When Is an Ethnic Joke Acceptable?

The Rev. Zedar Broadous, president of the San Fernando Valley branch of the NAACP, likes to share this fanciful bit of news:

“Did you hear about the African American group that bought Toys R Us? They’re only making one change--the name. Now it’s Toys B Us.”

Broadous likes that joke. The reverend likes the twist on street dialect, so he’s repeated it often. But he also knows that some blacks might take offense. For that matter, some whites might like it too much.

Did this joke pass your taste test? Did it amuse or offend? Do you squirm at the very subject of racial, ethnic and religious humor? It has that effect on many people, including certain bureaucrats, editors and other guardians of propriety. When radio’s Baka Boyz put up their irreverent billboards, some aging, un-hip-hop Latino activists complained that the spelling implied mass illiteracy. “Comedy,” Steve Martin once observed, “is not pretty.”

With that warning, today’s offering represents an effort to, as we like to say in Los Angeles, “create a dialogue.”

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This discussion really began a couple of weeks back with the news that a top Los Angeles Police Academy graduate--Randy Mehringer of West Hills, 27 years old and white--had been rejected by the LAPD after acknowledging that he told an offensive joke about the “Million Man March.” Alas, the joke was deemed not fit for print; suffice it to say it implied the sad but true fact that many African American men are unemployed.

My column last Thursday expressed sympathy for Mehringer’s predicament. As I noted then, a friend had told me a joke similar to Mehringer’s, and though I considered the joke racist, it does not follow that my friend is racist. Decent people sometimes exhibit bad taste, just as some awful people have impeccable manners. And, if you accept the notion that not all racial humor is necessarily racist, I wondered how we are to “celebrate our differences” without laughing about them now and then.

This column prompted more reaction than most, thumbs up and down. One African American colleague sent this computer message: “LAPD officers have a habit of making poor, insensitive jokes at the expense of African Americans. You left out the famous jokes about gorillas in the mist, and flame throwing along Slauson. All quite funny to someone. . . . Given that context, I could understand why they might be reluctant to hire another joker.”

Me too. A reference to the infamous police computer messages that surfaced during the Christopher Commission hearings is a good reminder that Mark Fuhrman was hardly a lone racist. But I can’t imagine my friend making or laughing at the “gorillas” crack. A hurtful joke about high unemployment falls between the extremes.

Then the mail started coming in.

From Kathie Gibboney of Topanga: “The type of jokes a person tells is certainly indicative of their nature. . . . I don’t think telling a demeaning ethnic joke can in any way be construed as ‘celebrating’ our differences. . . . Even if said joke is not proof that Mr. Mehringer is a racist, it is proof that he is immature and sophomoric . . . and I wouldn’t want him representing law and order in my city.”

From Laurie Price, “speaking from experience”: “It’s true, in a homogenous society, if we were all the same (how boring), there might not be much to joke about, but be clear--when someone tells an ethnic joke, is he having fun or poking fun? . . . Remember one thing, any acceptance of bigoted behavior, even in the form of a ‘harmless’ joke, can lead to bigger and badder acceptance of bigoted behavior among the laughing majority. . . .”

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From the Rev. Broadous, the Toys B Us joke may seem harmless enough. From a white guy like me, it may seem otherwise. Then again, Broadous first heard that one years ago from a Navy buddy who happens to be white. The social intricacies of such humor--good, bad and ugly--will make it hard for the LAPD to enforce a “zero tolerance” policy, given the exceptions many people consider perfectly reasonable. Context is everything.

Mehringer’s predicament also inspired this letter from Volney E. Hyde of Van Nuys: “. . . As an African American male I was initially offended when I first read that one of the top recruits of the LAPD had admitted telling an ethnic joke about the ‘Million Man March’. . . . What an outrage!

“Or is it? Before casting the first stone I had to examine my own glass house. Yes, in the past I’ve been guilty of telling ethnic jokes. . . .”

Hyde doesn’t think this makes him a bigot. Over the phone, he expanded on the reasons that, upon reflection, he thought Mehringer deserves a chance: “When they asked this guy if he told any ethnic jokes, he could have said no. At least he was honest. We need that on the force.”