Revolution Televised.pdf

Conclusion 187
Rock notes that whites have had an impact on the ability to
make it “There.” Rock discusses Susan Smith, the South Carolina
woman convicted of drowning her two children. By blaming a
black man she initially put black people back seven steps, but when
the truth came out, black people moved forward two hundred
steps. Generally, throughout the sketch he spends much of the time
pointing out both the positives and negatives of black society, from
Venus and Serena Williams to Daryl Strawberry. He even ends the
skit by noting that black society had almost made it and was just
ten steps away until the night of the infamous 2000 Source Hip-
Hop Awards, which were cancelled because several fights broke out
and chaos ensued at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, in California.
He places the responsibility on black people to check themselves
and see their role in reinforcing beliefs about black people.
Rock’s on-the-street interviews are a fascinating look at contemporary
race relations. He goes to South Carolina “the heart
of Dixie” to talk to people about the fact that the state still flies
the Confederate flag over its Capitol dome. Rock interviews both
white and black citizens of South Carolina. One older white man
says the flag is flown because they are southerners and it should
stay there forever. One white woman claims that the Confederate
flag is a symbol of family and pride. She does not understand why
Rock does not see her viewpoint. When Rock asks her if she thinks
black people would feel better if they could put up their own flags,
she says no, as if unable to acknowledge the flag’s symbolic tie to
racism and slavery. On an unnerving note, when Rock asks a black
man if he thinks the police would be upset with the man if he tore
the flag off the Capitol, the black man responds that the police
“would handcuff me, take me to some woods, and beat me up.”
Rock in turn proposes several alternate flags, which include one
of O.J. and a white woman and one that states, “South Carolina is
OKKK.” As a matter of fact, when Rock riffs on the theme of the
flag and asks the older white man if he is familiar with the Klan,
the man pauses to think in a way that makes him look as if he may
be quite intimately aware of the organization. Rock also suggests
a combination of the Malcolm X symbol and the Confederate flag
and a flag with a large white saltine (i.e., a “cracker”). The flag that
is finally chosen is a version of the Confederate flag whose stars
have been replaced by the stars of the WB network. While some of