I hear some of the same jokes from year to year, some new ones, and some that have been around since I was a kid.
I do have to coach the students not to tell jokes that are culturally insensitive. I'm not talking about viciously racist jokes. I'm talking about jokes that make fun of how someone talks. The kids haven't quite figured out yet that that is inappropriate. Also, do consider the fact that all jokes are making fun of someone (maybe even the listener!), so for a young person it might be difficult to distinguish when it is harmless to make fun of another person and when it is hurtful. I'm willing to help them to start considering these things.
One particular joke came up this year that was interesting to me because I think it has been around for a while, and it wasn't so much about race when it originated, but it kind of is now. How offensive the joke is also depends on how it is told.
The blue man lives in the blue house.
The red man lives in the red house.
The orange man lives in the orange house.
Who lives in the White House?
Answer: The President
This is, I think, the original version of the joke. You could make an argument that it always had some racial undertones, since it is referring to people by color. But it seems mostly harmless.
Now that we have a President "of color" it is a little more problematic, though. Because the joke is setting the listener up (this is one of those jokes that is "on" the listener, by the way, since it is trying to trick you) to say, "The white man." And, in fact, the man living in the White House is not white.
What is even more problematic is when the joke is told like this:
The blue man lives in the blue house.
The red man lives in the red house.
The orange man lives in the orange house.
Where does the brown man live?
Answer: The White House
I really heard the joke told this way and didn't have time to stop it. I thought I knew what was coming. I was wrong.
The question is, did the child partially remember the joke and mix up the ending? Or, are people telling it this way, now, too?
What does it say about our society when we expect the white man to be in the White House and "joke's on us" when he isn't? Even worse, what does it say about us when we expect the brown man to be in the brown house?
I don't think my students meant either version of this joke in either of those ways. But jokes don't just tell us about the individuals who tell them. Jokes tell us about the folk groups in which the jokes circulate. Someone out there telling these jokes probably does know that they aren't that nice.
