The Souls of White Jokes by Raúl Pérez

Author:Raúl Pérez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

But while it appeared that such forms of racial discrimination and abuse were finally being taken seriously among the LAPD, the screening out of officers based on their use of “offensive humor” was increasingly viewed with skepticism by those who regarded such efforts as not only excessive and unnecessary but as detrimental to the hiring and retention of “qualified” officers and ultimately to the profession of law enforcement itself. An incident in 1996 served as a pivotal case, casting doubt on the regulating of officer racial discourse as an effective means to screen new recruits and discipline LAPD officers.

Randy Mehringer, at the time a 27-year-old San Fernando Valley resident, was on track to becoming a new LAPD officer. A graduate of the University of Arizona and the son of a senior LAPD officer, Bud Mehringer, Randy finished third in his academy class and had already logged over 2,000 hours at the LAPD’s Rampart Division as a cadet.72 According to the Los Angeles Times, while Mehringer scored 98 out of 100 on his oral exam and “worked nearly for free for the LAPD for two years without anyone complaining of his attitudes,” Mehringer was ultimately rejected by the LAPD after admitting to telling a “bad joke” during his interview. The Times reported that Mehringer had previously shared a “racial joke” about the Million Man March. The paper did not repeat the joke in question, only that it “implied that many African Americans are unemployed.” The LAPD used this joke to conclude that Mehringer failed to demonstrate “respect for others” through his use of “racially derogatory comments.”73

Held in Washington, DC, in 1995, the Million Man March was a civil rights demonstration called by Louis Farrakhan, the controversial Black nationalist leader of the Nation of Islam, that was organized by numerous civil rights groups. The purpose of the gathering was to publicly address the persisting issues negatively impacting Black men and the Black community, such as unemployment and poverty, as well as media stereotypes and images prevalent in the country at the end of the 20th century. While the gathering was one of the largest civil rights demonstrations held in DC since the civil rights movement, it was criticized by Black feminist activists and scholars for its overwhelming patriarchal focus on Black men, as well as for the anti-Semitic views expressed by Farrakhan, the event organizer.74 In other words, the event garnered mixed reaction, making it easy fodder for criticism and jokes in a context a few decades removed from the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 70s.

Today, racist jokes regarding the Million Man March are easily found with a quick internet search. It is likely that such jokes originated during and after the demonstration. There are a few variations of jokes targeting the Million Man March that continue to circulate today:

“What was the only thing missing from the Million Man March? An auctioneer.”

From “racial joke” threads on Reddit to explicit white supremacist websites like N*****mania.com, this is one of the most common internet “jokes” related to the Million Man March.

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