On Second Thought

Abstract

Editors: Reading Grace Heneks’s analysis of the Black satirical critique of the white embrace of postracialism in “‘We Cool?’ Satirizing Whiteness in Obama-Era Black Satire” made me think of Richard Pryor’s lament in his 1976 routine Bicentennial Prayer: “How long will this bullshit go on?”1 Heneks’s article documents the practices of casual racism, drawing on Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s concept of new racism, thereby pointing to the fine line between white liberalism and white supremacy: the white liberal fears being called racist; the white supremacist fears a truly postracial and pluralistic society. Both choose silence to maintain the status quo. White claims that we have entered an era of postracialialty—white claims, because Black folks know the idea is “bullshit”—shut down needed discussions of ongoing racial hierarchy and seek to make invisible the harm done by racism to those deemed “other” to whiteness. Heneks’s analysis of Key & Peele’s “Apologies” sketch and Black-ish’s scenes from the episodes “Lemons” and “Gap Year” offer an exploration of the fantasy that exists in white minds that underlies the white liberal fear of being called racist. By centering the subjectivity and humanity of Black people in these vignettes, the satirist is able, Heneks argues, to flip the narrative and deconstruct the fantasy of white liberalism, which is often (un) wittingly supportive of white supremacy. Most intriguing to me about “Apologies” is that in it Key and Peele are trying to have a conversation about Game of Thrones—a fantasy about white nobility and power structures—but they are repeatedly interrupted by white people trying to assert their “coolness.” I wish Heneks had pushed harder