I’ve got a bit of a grudge going for Dave Chappelle.  I don’t think about things or people I hate all the time, so it doesn’t come up much for me, but when it does, I’m like, fuck that guy a lot.

There was an episode of his show where some goofy pimps time traveled to the days of slavery, and one of them shot an overseer.  The meta-laff was that this was supposedly a skit that had been cut from an earlier show by execs who didn’t think killing slavers was funny.  I had a good time watching that a million years ago.

For those who don’t remember his story after that point in his career, he had a nervous breakdown and broke contract to abandon the show and chill out in Africa for some years.  Comedy Central ran what was left of his show as reruns for a very long time – probably still does.  Then, at long last, Dave emerged from the earth like Punxsutawney Phil, to chip into the discourse of our times.  What did he purchase with the remainder of his cultural cachet?

He defended shitler’s “grab them by the pussy” remark like a month ahead of his first election.  Then he fucked off again for a while, during which time he did some few standup shows.  At one of these, he was photographed partying with Apartheid Junior and some other Bay Area heels.

After that he really got my attention by going full transphobe.  One of the subjects of his “humor” was a trans woman who subsequently committed suicide.  I imagine she had other reasons as well, but still.

But let’s back that up a moment.  Chappelle has partied with the guy who is currently egging on white supremacist riots in northern Ireland, who unambiguously heiled hitler at the grabber’s second inauguration.  Do you suppose the has-been comedian has any misgivings about the company he’s kept?

I’m sure he doesn’t, because like the terfs who thought they could defend cis-women’s rights by killing trans women, like the working class white ameriKKKans who thought they could protect the working class by killing mexicans, he makes this one important mistake.  He believes you can discriminate against one oppressed class of people without empowering the oppressors of your own people.

It can’t be done.  You cannot separate out the struggles of the oppressed and say one group deserves it, one group is a reasonable sacrifice.  This is basic fucking shit, as basic as it gets.  Freedom can only be protected by solidarity between the oppressed, whatever their differences.

You don’t have to like or even care about other people on your side, as long as you can stifle your shitty mouth when you’re tempted to let your prejudice run – when you’re tempted to give aid and succor to the Fourth Reich.  Do people like Dave Chappelle care about his fellow black people?

I don’t buy it for a fucking second.  Like the recurring theme in Russian folk tales of a decent pauper who becomes a shitty prince, people get X amount of dollars and decide they hate taxes more than they love human rights.

Biggie Smalls once said, “Fuck the world, don’t ask me for shit. And everything you’ve got, you work hard for it.”  I say many hands make light work, and nobody in the fucking world should have to truly work hard, as many hands as we have.  If everybody who hits the sixth zero in their bank account turns nazi, it’s time to make sure nobody gets that dollar.

Freedom for all oppressed people.  Traitors eat shit.  Long live the fighters.

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