Revolution Televised.pdf

182 Conclusion
You know how I can tell Colin Powell can’t be president? Whenever
Colin Powell on the news, white people always give him the same
compliments. How do you feel about Colin Powell? “He speaks so
well.” “He’s so well spoken.” Like that’s a compliment. “Speaks so
well” is not a compliment, okay? “Speaks so well” is some shit you
say about retarded people that can talk. What—did he have a stroke
the other day? He’s a fucking educated man. How the fuck you expect
him to sound, you dirty motherfucker?
What became more of an issue within black circles was Rock’s
pointed critique of problems within African American society. In
the epigraph that opens this section, Rock describes a division in
African American society between black people and “niggas.” He
went on to criticize this segment of society for various problems,
such as not wanting an education and having more pride in a jail
sentence than a master’s degree. Internal critique, as explored in
earlier chapters, has always been a part of the African American
comedic tradition, as well as an everyday part of communal conversations
among family and friends. What makes this a more critical
issue is airing these problems in a mainstream forum such as HBO.
These are problems to be handled behind the proverbial closed
doors. Rock acknowledged this concern in an interview after the
special aired.
They’ve [African Americans] been thinking it and saying it for years.
My mother’s been saying it. It’s not real news. My brother’s house
got broken into and he said, “Where do I sign up for the Ku Klux
Klan?” and I like using that line. The people that get upset with
that—the black people that get in my face—are angry mainly because
I’m saying it in front of white people. 21
The forum is no longer the black communal sites of the Chitlin’
Circuit or the privacy of one’s own home; it is the very mainstream
venue of U.S. cable television. 22 The venue can change the meaning.
No longer are you speaking to an audience that has a shared historical
understanding underlying the humor. Once the material is
released, the potential occurs for any number of interpretations by
a multifaceted audience. 23 As Rock himself noted,
That’s the only thing I hated about all the press I got in the last
couple of years about the niggers and Black people thing. They act