When I was growing up, I remember a lot of redneck jokes and jokes about white people.
I remember when I was in fifth grade, when I went to school with a bunch of white kids, and one of them said, “Hey, how can you be a redneck comedian?”
I didn’t know what that meant, so I was like, “Well, what do you mean?”
And he said, I don’t know, but I don, either.
“It was so racist, and I didn.
And then I was the kid who said, Look, the white guy thinks I’m a racist.
And he was like “Look, you can say that all you want, but you can’t do it with the word ‘racist.'”
So I stopped using it.
And now I don: I don.
I just don’t use it anymore.
The thing is, a lot to me is, I’m kind of white, and that’s fine.
But I don [know] how to be a good black person.
I don no longer feel like a good person.
So I can’t be a white person.
And I don to not be a racist, I can say “Hey white people, let’s go get the hell out of here.”
You can do that, but it’s really hard.
When you’re a black person, when you’re in your 20s, when your 20-something years are coming to an end, you have to sort of make a choice, “Am I going to be an activist, or am I going.
Is my life going to change?
Is my relationship going to get better, or is my life not going to?
“The answer is, you know, you’re not going.
So you can be a real progressive, and you can change the world, and it’s gonna be hard.
I can be an amazing advocate, but at the same time, I think it’s a really, really good idea to be in a place where you’re just trying to stay positive.
And that’s really, very hard.
So, the first thing I try to do is, when my kids are like, Oh, I wish I could go on a red-neck comedy touring tour, I have to say no.
Because then, I feel like I’m giving up something.
And you know what?
It’s not about that, it’s about, I want them to know, I know it sounds like I don “give up” anything, but the only thing I give up is the feeling that I’m losing.
I’m lost, and there’s nothing that I can do about it.
That’s why I think, “I can’t just sit back and say, ‘Well, you don’t really want to do this.'”
It’s like, What are you doing?
That’s not gonna change anything.
So now that I have the experience to see that it’s not a real option for me, and the only way to make it work for me is to make a real choice.
And to make that choice, you gotta do what you can.
And it’s hard, because you’re constantly being told, “You’re a white guy.”
And I’m like, How the fuck do you know?
You can’t even talk to a black man.
I am white, but there are so many ways to be.
You know, if I had to tell my son about my experience, he’s like [points to a young black boy] “Why are you white?”
And then he goes, “Why do you wear a hat?
You wear a fucking hat.
“So it’s like: You know what, if it doesn’t work for you, then go somewhere else.
You gotta do something.
You can choose your own path, and be proud of it, and go somewhere where you can do it, but, at the end of the day, it is not going away.
It’s going to have to change.
It has to change with your children, your relationships with your family, your friends, your work, your education, whatever it is.
And there’s so many other things you can look forward to.
But you know that it is something that you can go to, and say “Yeah, that’s where I want to go,” because it is where you want to be and it is the way that you want it to be, and hopefully it will give you a different perspective on life.