Revolution Televised.pdf

216 Notes to Conclusion
where he led the vote that prevented the use of race and gender as factors
in UC admissions. Although this was overturned in 2001, Proposition
209 still prevents the use of race as a determining factor in UC admission
policies.
27. Connerly also proposed an initiative to ban the collection of racebased
data by government agencies. He believes that designating one’s race
on a government form is a form of segregation, and he fails to see that
these data can be used as a tool in the fight against discrimination.
28. For more information on the model minority, see Deborah Woo,
“The Gap between Striving and Achieving: The Case of Asian American
Women,” 243–51.
29. Students in my African American television course, especially the
black women, were highly offended by the comment and felt that Rock
played into the stereotypical views of black women as overbearing. However,
his words also led to a great discussion of gender relations.
30. The incident referred to the shooting at Columbine High School
on April 20, 1999, in which seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed
twelve students and a teacher before killing themselves.
31. The following is a sample of his monologue that deals with these
issues: “You don’t get the money [Social Security] till you’re sixty-five;
meanwhile, the average black man dies at fifty-four. Shit, we should get
Social Security at twenty-nine. We don’t live that long—hypertension, high
blood pressure, NYPD, something will get ya. What the fuck is up with the
police, my God. I am scared. I ain’t gettin’ rid of no guns—fuck that shit.
I had a cop pull me over the other day, scared me so bad, made me think I
stole my own car. Get out the car! Get out the fucking car! You stole this
car! I’m like, damn. Maybe I did. Oh Lord, I done stole a car.”
32. Defining what should be kept behind these black walls ignores
the fact that other mainstream outlets have in essence taken some of the
very issues that are a part of Rock’s comedy to a mainstream venue in a
less critical way. Talk shows have, for many years, become one of the key
arenas for airing this laundry in public and in a directly exploitative way.
Ricki Lake, Jerry Springer, and Jenny Jones are a few of the television programs
that have used black guests for ratings in numerous episodes, for
example, “My Baby’s Daddy,” “I’m Sleeping with Your Man,” “I Need a
DNA Test to Find Out the Father of My Baby.” These shows expose problems
without a sense of self-awareness; the guests are used simply for the
value of titillation.
33. This is perhaps a reflection of the close relationship that Rock had
with his father and the role he feels his father had in his life.
34. Chris Rock developed this material into a special for HBO, Chris
Rock: Never Scared.