#8:46

8:46 - Dave Chappelle (NSFW Language)

8:46

Watched Dave’s special last night. I wept a little weep, as my sister would say. I learned some things which sent me down the beautiful Wikipedia rabbithole. I reflected on history - where we’ve come from and where we still have to go. Here are some of his words that resonated with me the most:

On Floyd’s killers: “What are you signifying, that you feel like you can kneel on another man’s neck -- for 8 minutes and 46 seconds -- and feel like you wouldn’t get the wrath of God?” That’s not only in-human (spelling, I know), it’s what Paul describes as a “pretension” that sets itself up as greater than God. Isn’t that the same spirit Lucifer had?

On Christopher Dorner: "No less than 400 police officers showed up and swiss-cheesed this [man] ... because one of their own was murdered."

On Laura Ingraham: "[She] told Lebron to shut up and dribble. Lebron is the best at something, and she is not the best at anything." That woman is a dangerous voice, made all the more dangerous because of her platform. Sometimes I watch her show because I will forever be a student and a teacher, and I try to understand people with different viewpoints (or in her case, realities).

On Eric Garner's murderers: "Not one of them (the other cops) said anything BECAUSE they were being recorded. Because they were afraid, if I correct my fellow officer on this camera, it's going to open us up for some kind of liability."  My God. I had never considered police violence and silence in front of cameras as a "because"; I always viewed it as a cynical "in spite of." What sort of brokenness is revealed in a system if Dave is right and I am wrong?

On the murder of police by Black veterans: "Why would our guys do that? Because they believe - just like they did when they were joining the military - that they were fighting acts of terror."  I know calls to defund the police are controversial or even inflammatory. (And honestly, it’s not a great slogan if people have to listen to a whole TED talk before they can understand it or get behind it. But I digress.) But the calls for us to seriously rethink the entire system of policing in America are rooted in an understanding of its historical origin and purpose. And historically, police interactions with Black people have been for purposes of control and terrorising. (If you haven’t yet, please do give the @npr Throughline episode “American Police” a listen!)

On Candace Owens: The Reverend Al Sharpton had the best response when he said in his eulogy that it is precisely because Floyd was an “ordinary brother” and a “rejected stone” that he can become the cornerstone of a movement! It’s an unnecessary red herring to try to ascribe blame to the victim.

On his great-grandfather, William David Chappelle, who was born a slave and was part of an anti-lynching delegation to Woodrow Wilson’s White House (woo hoo, Woody Woo): "These things are not old. It's not a long time ago. It's today." So true. And there is something perverse in clinging to one aspect of history (such as the Confederacy), and simultaneously insisting that we should collectively get over another aspect (which is the other side of the same coin). My US pastor, Andy Stanley, would say that that’s Proverbs’ definition of foolishness. Our past is intimately connected to our present and our future. The wise person is the one who recognizes that and acts accordingly.