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It is a tragedy that the dream of a white man, which once sang of a white world, has now turned into a comedy. The actions of a white man, the thoughts of a white man, and the deeds of a white man are all darker and more subtle than they first appear. After the comical manifestations that follow, the arrogance of the Englishman and the strut of the Southerner become funny. This leads to curious acts. It is obvious and inherent that tan or brownness is better than whiteness alone. This assumption assumes that God’s hues, encompassing all colors, are better than the assumption of whiteness alone.

W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Minds of Caucasian Individuals”.

Brown was surprised by the results shared with him by his fellow officers. According to Ancestry.Com, Brown’s African sub-Saharan ancestry was 18 percent, but he did not have Native American ancestry as he had long assumed. Throughout his life, Brown was often teased and taunted for being Black, even though his family assumed he was part Native American due to his name, Cleon. Brown filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Hastings Police Department (Michigan), charging that he was the victim of racist harassment, ridicule, and taunting by his fellow officers.

The police department was sued by Brown for racial harassment and sought damages of at least $500,000, stating that the ongoing incident has impacted his ability to work and his mental health. His attorney, Karie Boylan, stated that Brown felt emotionally distressed and “bullied” by his colleagues, and months went by with racist jokes being made. Additionally, Frank Campbell, the mayor of Hastings, was involved in making racist jokes, referring to African Americans as “Negroids.” During the holiday season, an officer at the station had written “18%” on the beard of a Black Santa figure in Brown’s Christmas stocking. Fellow officers began pumping their fists and chanting “Black Lives Matter” in reference to the character Kunta Kinte from the Roots miniseries, now referring to Brown as “Kunta.” Chief of Police Jeff Pratt, who was part of the command chain, participated in the racial mockery and taunting that occurred up and down the chain of command. This racial identity became a running joke at the station.

He stipulated that Brown’s resignation would be part of the settlement. The city’s best interest was to resolve the case on the terms of the mediated settlement agreement. When comparing the disruptive and costly effect of defending the case in court to the settlement agreement terms, the city did not believe the lawsuit had merit. However, City Manager Jeff Mansfield noted that although the city awarded Brown $65,000 in 2018, he denied these accusations, stating that he always tried to take a race-neutral approach to policing and had developed a new understanding of the effects of racism from this experience. Furthermore, it was further revealed that Brown had a long history of making rude comments about black people.

How should we understand this peculiar incident? Many will certainly find this story ridiculous, perhaps comical and ironic. It suggests that no real harm has been done and we should not take it seriously. We should see it as a “joke” or an incident that was intended to be funny. Incidents like these are generally characterized by entertainers, law enforcement officers, and elected officials going “too far” with their jokes. In this particular case, it is the way the city of Hastings attempted to frame this incident. It is often the case that these incidents involve racist and insulting discourse from police officers and elected officials, mocking victims who are civilians of color and officers of color. We don’t often hear about a white police officer being racially ridiculed and harassed as a Black man in the workplace. How should we interpret this strange incident?

In many ways, the case of Brown is a satirical allegory for the prevalence of racism within our criminal justice system. It could be the perfect premise for a dark comedy episode in the Mirror Dark series on Netflix or a new film by Jordan Peele, the director and comedian, where a white police officer mistakenly stops a white criminal and nearly beats him to death. However, the situation becomes even more absurd when the victim of racist jokes by his fellow white officers turns out to be the only one who shares DNA test results with the white officer who learns that he is also Black. This peculiar incident could indeed be a hilarious premise for an interracial cop buddy comedy set in the 21st century.

8. “This is why we have a great divide in our nation,” he told me, opening my eyes. It angered and humiliated him as Sergeant Brown expressed his ongoing racist taunts and jokes, which gave him a greater insight into the problem of racism in law enforcement in this country. He believed that it only made sense for him to truly understand what it was like to be a “Negro” in the United States by becoming one, and he offered his observations to argue that only white people could truly comprehend it. This incident is reminiscent of John Howard Griffin’s experiences documented in his book “Black Like Me,” where he recounts his temporary darkening of skin and travels in the Deep South (1961).

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As Anderson notes, Brown briefly experienced what sociologist Elijah Anderson describes as the “racial derogation moment” – those instances of “intense disrespect” that Black individuals regularly encounter in predominantly white environments, where all white individuals possess the authority to shame, demean, and label them as marginalized outsiders.

Even a relatively minor incident can have a significant impact. The victim is always caught off guard and taken by surprise when this act of discrimination and acute insult occurs. However, it is shocking that awareness of this joke-like incident happens only at the time.

Today in the United States, one of the most influential societal positions an individual can hold is arguably a Caucasian, male law enforcement officer. The case of Cleon Brown and the Hastings PD discussed above illustrates that the utilization of discriminatory comedy altered the social and racial encounter. Discriminatory joking practices have long played a significant role in shaping how racialized groups and individuals are perceived and treated as lesser individuals and outsiders, while simultaneously establishing and preserving social structure, unity, and boundaries among Caucasian participants and “in-group” members as superior. These occurrences, often referred to as racial “microaggressions,” regularly transpire under the pretense of humor. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that such incidents are neither insignificant, minute, nor harmless.

Social power possesses racist comedy. To put it differently, racialized emotions, hierarchies, and perspectives are created and upheld by racist comedy. Racist comedy is a form of communication that has historically and currently played a significant role in generating and upholding racialized emotions, hierarchies, and perspectives. Presently, racist jokes and insults circulate among politicians and leaders in the public sphere, far-right groups and organizations, colleagues in the workplace, and the media. Throughout the history and legacy of blackface minstrelsy, whites comically ridiculed and depicted Blacks as unintelligent and foolish. What does racist comedy do for those who engage in its forbidden pleasure, both in the past and present, and how does it affect people of color who have always been and continue to be the main targets of such humor? If racist comedy has the ability to impact the social and racial experience of a white male police officer in the 21st century, what has it done to people of color who have always been and continue to be the main targets of such humor?

In the realm of everyday life, the concept of “race” has been and continues to be socially and politically constructed. This can be seen through the circulation and challenges faced by racist humor in U.S. Society. The thoughts, emotions, and actions of Americans towards race have played a crucial role in its development over the past two centuries. The evolution and resistance against racist humor, although often considered insignificant or peripheral, are important aspects of the overall puzzle of racial formation. In this book, I explore this relatively unexplored and often overlooked topic. Scholars of race, such as Michael Omi and Howard Winant, refer to this process as “racial formation.” It involves the social construction and categorization of race, how racialized groups and individuals are defined and treated, and who has the power to shape and act upon these definitions.

Notes

Throughout history, it is troubling to observe the persistent and unscientific idea of race at Harvard and the consequences it has had on racially marginalized individuals and groups. These social disparities have emerged as a result of European colonialism and are political and social constructions, rather than being based on any “real” categories of race.

On May 12, 2017, the New York Times published an article titled “Work at Taunts Racist Faced He Says Black Part He’s Learned Who Sergeant A” by Eligon J.

The study of Genetic Ancestry Testing is explored in various sources such as the article “The Science and Business of Genetic Ancestry Testing” published in Science, volume 318, issue 5849 on October 19, 2007, pages 399-400. Another relevant source is the book “Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century” written by D. A. Bolnick et al. In 2011. Additionally, D. E. Roberts discusses the uses, limitations, and buyer beware aspect of Ancestry Testing and DNA in the book “Genetics as Social Practice” (pages 75-88) published by Routledge in 2016. T. Duster’s book “The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome” also delves into the topic and was published by Beacon Press in 2016. A. Nelson provides further in-depth discussions on race and DNA, as well as racial science in general, emphasizing that DNA tests do not accurately represent the biological nature of race. The accuracy and interpretation of these tests are often misunderstood.

According to an article from the New York Post on May 12, 2017, a police officer claims that he was subjected to mocking comments after a genetic test revealed that he has African ancestry. The article was written by J.R. Miller.

5. Eligon, Sergeant Who Discovered He’s Partially African American.

On August 1, 2018, Newsweek reported that N. Rojas, a White Police Officer, received a $65,000 settlement from the City in a lawsuit concerning racial bias. Further information can be found at this link: https://www.Newsweek.Com/cleon-brown-hastings-police-michigan-racial-discrimination-settlement-1052977.

R. Pérez and G. Ward, in their articles “From Insult to Estrangement and Injury: The Violence of Racist Police Jokes” published in American Behavioral Scientist, volume 63, issue 13 (2019) and “Racism Without Hatred? Racist Humor and the Myth of ‘Colorblindness'” published in Sociological Perspectives, volume 60, issue 5 (2017), discuss the impact and harm caused by racist police jokes.

8. Eligon, Sergeant Who Discovered He’s Part African-American.