Revolution Televised.pdf

88 This Ain’t No Junk
In an era in which lynchings were far from rare, he reintroduced notions
of black sexuality and questioned the so-called color barriers
that were more about propriety than reality. “As far as my ancestry
goes, just take a good look at my face; you got to know someone
back there got integrated. See those lips? Thin, huh? Can’t hardly
taste bar-b-que.” 6 Although taken from a 1960s party record, the
following skit exemplifies this idea and brings it to the highest echelon
of white American society—the White House.
President Johnson and Carl Stokes, you know the brother, they were
in the restroom in Washington, and President Johnson looked over
at Carl to speak to him, and being a little bit taller than Carl he had
to look down, and he happened to glance into Carl’s bowl. And
he said, “I’ll be damned Carl, how’d you get that?” And Carl said,
“Well just before I have sex I always beat it on the bedpost four
times, just take it and beat it on the bedpost four times, that’s all I
did.” Well President Johnson says, “You know I’m gonna try that
when I get home.” He got home, took a shower, and walked into the
bedroom and beat it on the bedpost four times, and Ladybird woke
up and said, “Is that you Carl?” 7
For a black man to engage in open discussions about sex was considered
problematic, if not threatening. This joke in particular spoke
about the black man’s prowess over the white man’s. While the joke
seemingly feeds into stereotypes of black men, one must consider its
political and social context. At a time in which many mainstream
Americans feared the integration of black Americans into their
neighborhoods, here was a black man finding his way into the home
and bedroom of the most important southerner at the time.
Foxx also provided sharp observations of contemporary American
society and made direct reference to problems in the South, the
casual way in which some white southerners regarded the lives of
black people and the incompetent investigations into the continuing
lynchings in the South.
I don’t even go down South. They found a Negro in Mississippi with
six hundred pounds of chains wrapped around his body. Found him
in the river. The sheriff viewed the remains and says, “Just like one
of them niggers, steal more chains than he can carry.” 8
Foxx and White moved to Los Angeles in 1952 to work with
Dinah Washington at the Cotton Club. When the act broke up a