Growing up in a fairly conservative environment and being the "only" or "first" Black everything, LGBTQ was not something being championed, and I did encounter a handful of openly gay people, though none during my K-12 years, which, wrapping in the mid 90s was a torrent of pejoratives and slurs that were rarely delivered with literal intent. Not as if that shit made it ANY more comfortable for any students TO come out.

After 4 years at a liberal arts institution, seeing LGBTQ and POC as in alliance became normalized. So while white folks have long lacked the power to truly disappoint me (can only pleasantly surprise me), it was interesting being at a 4th of July party for a gay co-worker where only three women (my future wife included) were present and presumably every other of the 40 something men, except one other, was gay. Though I hadn't been in such a space since college, the only memorable takeaway from that evening was the white judge (I'm not sure whether he had come out or was closeted) who was unapologetically Islamophobic. The thought of him making decisions affecting lives daily with that mindset was troubling, to put it mildly. This was nearly 20 years ago.

Every topic he discussed, to me, extracted or underscored whiteness. Having dealt with anti-Blackness in subtle, overt, benign, or toxic forms for most of my life, the whiteness examination resonates strongly. That folks are walking past that, when so many of his previous bits did not uplift or celebrate folks, but instead made a point is interesting. I also find it telling that his use of "bitch" has never impacted folks' consumption of his context, despite the many graphic and disrespectful ways he's spoken about women in his comedy.

What I find most singular about Dave is that he did the unthinkable in walking away from that amount of money, came back, and actually surpassed his previously reached apex. I am sure there is a part of him that has never fully recovered from the brutality of the industry, who had influence/who was protected or favored and it seems that more than anything, THAT is what he takes personal.