Independence From Black Joy

Many Americans will celebrate Independence Day today/tomorrow in celebration and honor of the nation breaking away from England’s rule.

All that freedom talk and posturing in support of being free while upholding and expanding the institution of chattel slavery remains one of the most hypocritical acts by American men regarded as champions of freedom, democracy, and inalienable rights.

Something else those men — known to some as founding fathers — got independence from? Black Joy.

In their work to build a nation free from tyranny and freedom while still owning Black people, early white Americans separated themselves from Black Joy.

Though they worked nonstop to keep our ancestors in a constant state of fear and pain, and without hope, they failed miserably in small and large ways.

The didn’t stop our ancestors from finding internal joy, sharing joy among themselves, and figuring out how to imagine and hope for a future for their descendants that would be safe for us to loudly express our joy in ways they could not.

And now we do.

In music, theatre, movies, television, books, and in our homes, offices, churches, and parks. And we do it on social media with such energy and enthusiasm, and in such overwhelming numbers, that every social app’s most popular trends, memes, gifs, comments, tweets, Spouts, Spills, photos, and videos/TikToks, are most often created and shared by Black users.

And no matter how racists, magas, Russians and other foreign and domestic trolls and haters try to attack Black users, and no matter how Twitter, TikTok, and Facebook allow Black users to be the most attacked groups on social media, Black joy online remains undefeated.

Black words light up social media and generate laughs across the globe and causes various other communities to come together to laugh with us.

Black humor recognizes no boundaries or limits and has disregard for tact, style, grace, unwritten and written rules, and your sensibilities.

In short, Black online humor is the continuation of what Black folk have long done at home and on the streets:

Cappin,’ Rankin,” Shootin’ the shit, Dissin’,

Throwin’ Shade, Spillin’ Tea, Droppin’ dimes,

And one of the oldest, The Dozens.

Black Twitter will make insults about the twitter owner, Elon Musk, trend:

The joy Black people experience and express in words and on video is the standard and trendsetter for other entertainment industries. And also, that joy is expressed within Black family and friend groups, work associates, and even with strangers. With just a look Black folk will communicate “All the things” without saying a word.

Famously, one of the greatest “speeches” in Black history is simply Chadwick Boseman’s look back at his friend, Michael B. Jordan, upon hearing that his movie The Black Panther, did not win Best Picture at the Oscars, losing to the travesty that was the white savior movie, The Green Book.

Every Black person understood Chadwick’s visual sermon.

And the thing is, Black people willingly share our joy with the world and most of the world reacts appropriately and some even join in.

The Black diaspora (African, Caribbean, American, European, the Americas) and Irish Twitter and TikTok came together in harmony when British royals started dying.

And when dumb billionaires started sinking in homemade bathtub submarines.

And of course when so many white people were so upset that a fictional mermaid was Black.

The fact is that Black joy and humor has no limits and no restrictions. It cannot be contained or stopped by “Terms and Conditions” because it is part of our DNA and part of the fuel that helped our ancestors survive and our more recent ancestors to thrive.

Our humor is the chitlin circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitlin%27_Circuit

And it is Mom’s Mabley, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Wanda Sykes, Mo’nique, the Wayans family, Flip Wilson, Paul Mooney, Arsenio Hall, Nipsey Russell, Issa Rae, Quinta Brunson, Kenan Thompson, Rudy Frank Moore/Dolemite, Bernie Mac, and so many other women and men who set the standards followed and co-opted and plagiarized by mainstream media and entertainment.

White America loves to consume our humor but long ago declared independence from the culture out of which our humor is born and nurtured.

And that is too bad because Black humor could be the magnet that attracts community and the glue that holds disparate communities together.

Because Black humor is the humor of community, family, and of the need and ability to cut to the heart of any issue, controversy, or even death, and then extract humor that touches funny bones, hearts, emotions, and minds.

It is too bad that so many white Americans decided to hate Black people so much that they’d declare independence from the healing abilities of Black Americans’ humor.

With so much hatred, racism, insurrections, racial violence, and taking away rights, some may question how and why Black people can continue to find humor in this nation.

But how can we not?

As bad as America is and has been to Black people, this generations struggles, like past horrors, provide nonstop fuel for Black content and humor because without humor things would not be as pleasant for the purveyors of hate directed at us.

The next time you laugh at or use a meme, gif, video, or comment from a Black person on any of the social media sites, just know that there’s plenty more where that comes from but to get access to it, you need to exit your silo of whiteness, your gated community, and all-white schools and neighborhoods to access it.

Independence from Black Joy was never a good choice and those who continue to segregate themselves from us, our humanity, and our humor and joy, continue to pay the price that comes with disregarding the best part of America.