I used to agree with you about this stuff being non-threatening. Not anymore. My SO has been trying to convince me for years. I've finally fallen over the edge. Canada is currently contemplating an amendment to our Human Rights code which would categorize Dave's performance as hate speech. It would actually be illegal.

Dave Chappelle has done more to bring awareness to race issues than 99.9% of any of these people will do so in their lifetimes. And he's done so OUTSIDE an echo-chamber. Arguably effecting REAL change albeit subversively.

The reason I am particularly aggressive about this is because I've come to learn that people like this don't genuinely wish to effect real change. They seek moral authority and nothing else. I will NEVER use the term 'racialization' (or racialized people which has become the new term as an acceptable replacement for supposed 'out-dated' terms like visible minorities and people of color) in any way other than it's traditional definition. I'm not going to be a mouthpiece for their moral authority game and the euphemism treadmill that serves as methodology to find new ways of accusing people of racism, sexism and trans/homophobia. A racialized person is someone who has been categorized into a racial group that THEY DO NOT IDENTIFY WITH. The most common example of this in my community....is an African immigrant being categorized as a 'black people' who does not self-identify as a 'black person'. If you self-identify as a 'black person'....you cannot be 'racialized' by someone else (unless they've put you in a different category/group). You have already 'racialized' yourself.


There is nothing logically incoherent in the point Dave made. I'm paraphrasing...but how do we define his responsibility in accommodating other people's self-image?