Last week Comedian Katt Williams kicked off a fire storm with an incident, of all places, in Phoenix, Arizona. Entertainment web sites and blogs have been jamming with comments and opinions. While some have said it is just comedy and Katt should be left alone, others have called him a bigot and asked for Katt Williams to apologize. Some have suggested that Katt’s comments were ignorant and should be condemned. In some cases, the responses to Katt’s tirade are just as ignorant as Katt was.
It is important to have some level of sensible analysis since once an event like this gets into the pop culture stratosphere it is hard to walk it back, if at all. So if this helps, here are five reasons what Katt Williams did was wrong.
1. Cooler heads must prevail anytime tension rises between Blacks and Latinos.
Mixed Black and Latino communities and high schools across the country see racial division and tension that often leads to violence all the time. Part of the reason for Black-Brown tension is the type of parallel violence Franz Fanon wrote about when oppressed people lash out to the side rather than up the ladder. More importantly, the lack of knowledge of not only our own ethnic history, but that of others, leads us to be ignorant about the beauty and connectedness of Africans in American and Mexican people.
2. “Katt, what the hell is your point?” It is impossible to discern any real point to Katt’s tirade, which led to a general “anti-Mexican” feel.
If Katt’s point was about dual or competing allegiances, he should have said that. If his point was about being in the United States without proper documentation, he should have said that. If Katt’s points was that people of Mexican descent should not complain about America if they stay here, he should have said that. Maybe he said all of those things in his own way, but there is no salient point to what he was trying to communicate. Not that a comedian needs to have a point. But if a skit has a racial element to it and there is no big joke or point being made, why do it?
3. Katt’s statements to the homie were in anger, insulting, provocative and inflammatory.
Violence resolves nothing and if these two brothers had been in a more informal setting no question they would have got down. Both dudes contributed to the escalation, but one is a fan and the other is the professional (supposedly). The level of tension between the two is, I think, what made this a ‘moment.’ Kat did chill his security out (to his credit), but he was also very insulting and for many, “homie don’t play that.” Kat might say, ‘if you can’t take it don’t come to the show.’ So then what should homie say back?
4. Katt’s statements were completely ignorant of any facts or history.
There are so many factual errors it is not even worth it to list them. But the main one we should discuss is Mexico’s refusal to turn over escaped African slaves who made it to Mexico. There were two underground railroads, Harriet Tubman’s north and Mexico. In fact, one of the main reasons for the Mexican-American war was that Mexico would not allow Texan Whites to practice slavery and that Mexico provided material support for escaped slaves with land and money for a new start.
5. Patriotism is overrated.
If there was one theme Katt seemed to play out was to question the ability of anyone to have dual or competing national allegiances. This is absurd. It is like saying once you get married you can no longer have any emotional connection to anyone else you previously dated. But I will go further, what the hell is patriotism for? The Olympics? War? If war, which war did you like? I think patriotism is to build camaraderie among a mass of people for control and manipulation. I can love, and do love, living in American without being obligated to fight in Iraq or anywhere else so that Chevron gets it’s oil.
All in all, it is hard to not get hyped up seeing and hearing Katt. It is easier to handle when you realize what an ignorant fool he appears to be. But it is worth commenting on it because the Katt Williams incident is information that is flying around online that needs wisdom and responsibility. Before hating on Katt, we should at least understand why.
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