#NotYourRacistJoke: Now What?

Image credit Suey Park and Colleagues of the
#NotYourAsianSidekick social media campaign

So, I thought I was done with the whole Colbert Clusterfuck.

Apparently not.

A good friend sent me an update a little while ago on Colbert's in-character response. After apparently defending his intent (which is irrelevant to the fact of whether the sketch was racist, which it most certainly was), he reportedly reverts entirely to character. Paraphrasing, here's the essence:

"I don't see race, but I know I'm white, because I just said six times that I'm not racist."

I admit it: That was funny.

But, as with earlier exchanges with friends over this whole clusterfuck, it prompted me to think: Now what?

In other words, how does he go about fixing it?

Well, as usual, I have some ideas (I know you're all just shocked by that).

#NotYourRacistJoke

Image credit Suey Park and Colleagues of the
#NotYourAsianSidekick social media campaign

This seemingly won't go away, and people keep asking about it. Most of the opinions I see, inevitably expressed as fact, are not coming from POC. They're also not listening to POC — they're too busy defending a celebrity, apparently in equal parts because he's a celebrity, and because he's perceived to be "on our side."

So, here's my take. Yes, it's a rant. What's your point? And let's be clear: I'm not interested in defenses of Colbert. If you really think I haven't heard them all before (and analyzed them all before, and dispensed with them appropriately), you're not paying attention.

Here's what I said on Facebook the other day: