Black AF.

“We are not a monolith,” Felonius Munk said at the end of The Black Side of the Moon, the skit and stand-up comedy performance being staged at Washington D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth. His words rippled through the theater, more of a plea than a statement. It was meant to implore the audience to see the African American community as a widely diverse one, and to resist the narratives imposed on them by a racist paradigm. The production features some up-and-coming and veteran African American comedians from Chicago’s legendary troupe Second City. It’s wrapping up its stint in Washington, D.C. on January 1st.

Ahmad Coo is a producer and copy editor for the Global Business America show on CCTV America. His analysis represents his views alone.

Ahmad Coo is a producer and copy editor for the Global Business America show on CCTV America. His analysis represents his views alone.

The Black Side of the Moon is meant to be funny and is scathingly so. All the comics poke fun at themselves and the stereotypes they’ve been pinned with (especially the one about the hot-sauce). But at the heart of every skit and song lies a bunch of wounded souls, weary of a world that’s imposed its opinions on them. But they take it in stride with a lot of grace. Instead of looking back in anger, they poke fun at history and its injustices. Because sometimes laughing is the only thing one can do to stay sane, especially now that the incoming U.S. President has a history of prejudice against African Americans.

Photo by Woolly Mammoth

In many ways, the production is a reminder of how the politics of race has impacted how African Americans relate to their world. In his great essay about Barack Obama in the January/February issue of the Atlantic magazine, essayist Ta Nehisi Coates says that being black means being exposed to a myriad of traumas, starting from childhood. He writes: “If black racial identity speaks to all the things done to people of recent African ancestry, black cultural identity was created in response to them. The division is not neat; the two are linked, and it is incredibly hard to be a full participant in the world of cultural identity without experiencing the trauma of racial identity.”

Black Side of the Moon is part of the wider canon of African American culture that’s a direct response to that historical trauma. From its own twisted version of a Sesame Street skit to the hilarious take-down of a gentrifying Brooklyn, the production is a merciless indictment of this country’s racist history.

Photo by Woolly Mammoth

In a perfect world, President Barack Obama would be handing over the reins of government to his chosen successor Hillary Clinton. But it’s almost 2017, and it seems the world is going down the toilet in a right-winged frenzy. So instead, one of the most dignified American presidents of all time is moving out of the White House to make space for the reality show monstrosity known as Donald Trump. It’s a painful prospect for tens of millions of Americans who had expected the country to reject such a divisive figure.

One of the most bitterly funny moments of Black Side of the Moon is Munk’s imitation of Obama talking about Trump’s election victory. He’s visibly hurt and points to the fact that he’s going out in style- with a 53% approval rating. And given that he’s going to be one of the most popular outgoing Presidents of all time, he asks the audience in disbelief: “And you vote for someone who’s the complete antithesis of me? Really??”

The outrage is justified. Just to drive the point home, Munk talks about the injustice his community faces on a daily basis. To paraphrase, he said the black man has to run hundreds of miles through hostile terrain, fight off wild animals- go through hell really- just to get to the starting line of life. The white man has to just wake up and walk to it. It’s a situation that sadly still applies today.

Photo by Woolly Mammoth

For me, the most striking part of the production was the Black as F___ call out. The cast members took to the stage to proclaim their blackness, which- in a nutshell- is really a exercise of calling out every stereotype and misperception that’s been used to describe the community. One of the cast’s most endearing members said she’s as black as f^#&! and she likes all the stuff white people like- which may or may not include musicals.

Photo by Woolly Mammoth

Unfortunately the practice of calling out racism in a more ethnically polarized country will have to continue- but with so much more fervor and urgency now, so as to avoid getting drowned out by the darker elements of U.S. society. With Trump at the helm, the African American community’s decades long struggle for civil rights is probably going to be relegated to the background. The orange troll isn’t exactly the champion they- and almost everyone else- had envisioned. But to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr, the arc of history is long and will eventually bend towards justice (emphasis on the long), so it doesn’t hurt to use piercing socially-conscious humor every once in awhile to fight certain injustices.