UNR Students for Liberty » racism

Friday Night WTFs?!

Barry Belmont — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 03:36:38 +0000

I am at an utterly loss for words. You got me again world…

Racism and Comedy, Or; How to Make a Point

Barry Belmont — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:33:20 +0000

How is the “debate” about the supposedly “racist” skit done by a comedy troupe here in Reno even still an issue? No person involved is a racist. It seems that no person involved has been offended. No one cares. This. Shouldn’t. Be. An. Issue. But it seems to be and to prove a point I’m going to take the issue and crank it up to 11 as only a member of the UNR Students for Liberty can.

You see, there is actually no such thing as race. It is biologically irrelevant and civilly divisive. And even though the comedy troupe doesn’t appear to have been trying to make fun of race, maybe they should have. In fact, maybe I should. Below are a bunch of funny things about race — none of which are “offensive” in any meaningful respect.

If you choose to be offended by any of this you need to do two things: 1) Grow up. We’re adults, we should be able to talk about all issues with a sense of level-headed maturity. 2) Dash your misplaced sense of superiority against the rocks. Yes, these things are childish, but they’re also pretty funny. So crack a smile, while discovering that “race” really has no place in today’s society.

…And just to drive the point home, this is what blackface looks like:

…there’s nothing scary about it. It’s just some guy with shoe polish on his face. He isn’t unraveling the fabric of society. He isn’t destroying hearts and shattering minds. This picture, old timey, faded, black and white, is literally the epitome of absurdity in race relations.

It’s just a guy with shoe polish on his face.

Racist Comedy at UNR…

Barry Belmont — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:36:39 +0000

No, no, we’re not talking about the ever-present farce that are diversity initiatives, we’re talking about a recent comedy skit performed for the ASUN Leadership conference. Apparently this troupe did a skit about Barack Obama and one of the actors, to impersonate him, painted his face black. This, many people seem to think, is a direct mimicry of “blackface” comedy that was meant to insult black people a long time ago. And while one of the actors sensibly claimed, “If we are going to portray a girl, we are going to dress like a girl,” there still seems to be a huffing and puffing about this particular incident.

Clearly, we over here at the UNR Students for Liberty would be fine even with actual racist comedy as we feel the freedom of expression is more important than upholding tired notions of racial identity, but it seems that this is not the case. And though we rarely find anything within the Nevada Sagebrush comments section that is worth the neurons we waste on it, this particular response, which we quote at length, is absolutely wonderful. Go Brandon Ford:

“I like the fact that I was interviewed and nothing I said seemed to matter. I am a African American male at the University of Nevada, Reno and was in the audience when this sketch was performed. In no way was that racism. It was just a sketch highlighting Barack Obama and the things he has done over his first year in office. Because brown makeup is used, it is automatically racism. In that entire sketch or show, were they trying to single out a race or anyone. It is comedy, deal with it. Saturday Night Live does the same thing and we laugh and tune in the next week. A amateur troupe does the same thing and now they are racist. Seriously??? When a clown puts on white makeup, is he not entertaining people? When people are dressing up like women and over sized women is that not the same thing? People are creating racism and a problem now exists because something so small has to get blown up for no reason. As a black man, I did not feel threatened nor did I feel like these comedic actors were attacking my race. I am a proud person but I know the difference between racism and comedy. Now, we have three performers who happened to be white on the chop block because they did what they like to do: MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH!!!! If I did a Bill Clinton impression I will try to make my skin paler and hair grayer and whiter. I can’t sell my performance without looking it. Because it was a white performer who portrayed Obama, who wanted his performance to seem as realistic as possible, put makeup on his face not to defame him but to merely be like him. He even sounded like our president which was quite impressive. I am from a state and town that is predominately black and I know for a fact those same people I call friends would sit with me and laugh too because: IT’S FUNNY!!!! As a adolescent I had experienced racism that was real and for real, and never on that Saturday afternoon in the theater in the JCSU did I once think that those three performers were racist of any kind. During that sketch or any sketch they did, it never once crossed my mind that these actors were racist or trying to send the wrong message. They were looking for one thing and that was to: MAKE PEOPLE LAUGH!!!! And they got what they wanted. I am proud to call those of who you accused my good-good friends here at University of Nevada, Reno and never would once think that they meant any of this nonsense taking place as I speak. There is a reason why racism and its undertone still exists, and this the reason why. Thanks for free speech on campus UNR, we greatly appreciate it!”

Fox and Friends and Genetics and Ignorance and Some Closet Racism

Barry Belmont — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:17:09 +0000

The perversification of the sciences of biology, genetics, medicine, sociology, and psychology, the utter disregard for the institution of acceptance and tolerance, and the disgusting, romping foray into the most shameful shadows of xenophobia that still plague the otherwise noble humanist values to which much of this country suscribes can all be seen in the following fifty-two seconds of unadulterated conservativism-at-its-worse from the show Fox and Friends.

Laugh, cry, and turn away in shame for that biological wonder which lies between his two ears also lies betwixt yours dear reader.

Law Enforcement Series: Ronnie Holloway

John Russell — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:28:20 +0000

Who: A 49 year old schizophrenic man by the name of Ronnie Holloway and a policeman by the name of Joseph Rios III
What: After complying with a female officer’s request to zip up his jacket while he was on a sidewalk, the male driver of the vehicle they were riding in steps out and proceeds to assault him.
Where: Passaic, New Jersey
When: May 29, 2009
What Happened: After tackling Holloway to the ground, it can be seen that the officer began allowing him to stand back up, only to body slam him into the police car. The punching continues until backup arrives. Holloway was arrested on charges of resisting arrest and wandering with the intent to buy drugs. He has filed a complaint and an Internal Affairs investigation is underway. Officer Rios remains on active duty during the investigation, and has made no comment.
Footage:

Raw Footage:

Source:

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6850726