Negrotown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg58d8opQKA
(Won't allow you to access from school account)
Key & Peele have done dozens of skits making fun of race in America, but I believe there was no bigger or better skit than, "Negrotown". If you've never seen the sketch, Key is stopped by the police for being black, he hits his head on the car door as the policeman shoves him into the back, and he's then sent into a fictitious place where every grievance black people have due to race is rectified. What is immediately hilarious is the list of struggles/annoyances that black people endure, that maybe no white person would know. For example, the inability to get a cab, or getting approved for a loan, or how white people love to touch black people's hair. These are things that white people may know but many don't. What's interesting is how they weave in the obvious things, like being able to wear your hoodie and not get shot. This is a use of satire because just hearing it, it sounds hyperbolic. But really it's not an exaggeration at all. The ridiculousness of the sentence itself is a reflection of how ridiculous and racist America is.

However, the most ironic part of the entire skit is how white it looks and sounds. I am no music or dance expert, but black people don't sing or dance like that. It's ironic because when you think of a black utopia that "Negrotown" is supposed to be, those wouldn't be the images or sounds you would probably think of, or at least I wouldn't. But what's even more interesting, that I never noticed until I looked at it closely, is the subtle hints or black cultural images that they throw in. While you're watching Jordan Peele teach Keegan-Michael Key about "Negrotown", I'm sure you didn't notice the men in the back who are wearing dashikis. Or the two teenagers shake hands like Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff do on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Or while at the end when everyone in the street is doing possibly the whitest dance ever, there are about 4 people on the side doing different black dances. And while they all do their dances, they end at the same point, united, with their fists in the air. It something that I didn't notice at first, but it perfectly caps off a hilarious yet serious reflection of race in America.