funny Archives - The Race Card Project

When your blueprint is pretty funny

December 19, 2024December 19, 2024 blueprint, funny, genius, Houston, Jilly Bean, labels, pretty, smart, TX

Jilly Bean,
Houston, TX

The blueprint for my life was etched from a very young age. I was told constantly by everyone that I was pretty and that I was funny. My sister on the other hand was told she was smart, intelligent, a genius. She was told that she was going to go so far in life. Me, I was just pretty and funny. When I didn’t do something well I would hear the comment, “well at least she is pretty”. That stayed with me, affected me, and shaped me. Making sure I was good at being pretty and funny was at the forefront of my being. It was an underlying trigger for my diagnosed ocd and anxiety. To this day the comments have not changed. Your so pretty, your so funny, your such a good cheerleader….. and so that is where my focus stays

We joke, but it’s not funny.

March 8, 2019March 8, 2019 Ann Arbor, friends, funny, joke, MI, Pauline Devlin, Racist, stereotypes, Understanding Race Project, University of Michigan

Pauline Devlin
Ann Arbor, MI
Understanding Race Project- University of Michigan

This is in reference to my friends and I. I do not believe any of us would consider ourselves racist, so I feel bad when I hear people casually perpetuating stereotypes.

Ashamed and embarrassed to be black.

April 16, 2018August 18, 2020 angry black man, angry black woman, articulate, ashamed, Color, Durham, embarrassed, funny, NC, nobody, non-black, race card, scary, stereotype, thug

Nobody,
Durham, NC.

I would change my race to anything non-black if I could. I don’t think white people understand how limiting it is to only be seen as a color and not as a person. When you’re black you can be the Scary Black Person, the Angry Black Man/Woman, the Thug, the Smart/Articulate Black Person, the Funny Black Guy/Girl, etc but you are never just a person. You spend your whole life trying to make other people feel comfortable and you never get to just be. It’s tiring but if you mention it to anyone then you are pulling the “race card” and you are “whining.” I would do just about anything to not be black anymore.

I thought I was being funny

September 21, 2017 funny, I didn't realize, joke, Kathy, mortified, PA, perpetrators, Philadelphia, stereotype, upset

Kathy,
Philadelphia, PA.

I saw a student I work with wearing a baseball cap and a hoodie tied tightly around her face and I said “You’re rockin’ your perpetrator look today.” I didn’t realize I’d upset her until another staff member told me. I was mortified.