No-one has raised a voice against it so I’ll give it a go. It’s a very old one by Happy Howden who got banned from a lot of places but still brought the house down. When I think about it in today’s climate it could very well be anti-racist as it pokes fun at the impenetrable self-righteousness of the white hoi polloi.
It goes like this…
One day in court a driver was in the dock for a road traffic offence in which two coloured gentlemen had unfortunately been injured.
“Now just before I pass sentence” barked the judge, “I’d like you to tell me in your own words what really happened.”
“Well, Your Honour”, he replied, “it was like this. I was motoring along at a steady 30 miles an hour when I spotted these two coloured gentlemen walking on the pavement, and as I approached one of them must slipped near the curb and, catching hold of the other one, brought them to the edge of the kerb, and so somehow I must have clipped them and I’m awfully sorry to say but one of them went through the windscreen and the other one ended up in a field.”
“Come, come”, roared the judge. You’ll have to do better than that! Now tell me what really happened.”
“O.K.” He said. I was maybe doing closer to 50, I must admit, and I saw these two gone-fishings ahead of me and as I approached they kind of stepped off the pavement onto the road. Then one went through the windscreen and the other one ended up in a field.”
“Come, come”, bellowed the judge! “You’ll have to do better than that!! What honestly happened??”
“Fair enough, your Lordship. It was like this. I was doing about 70 when I saw these two bingo bastards in the distance. So I put my foot to the floor, mounted the pavement, chased them round the block, and finally hit ‘em. And one went through the windscreen and the other one ended up in a field.”
“That’s better!” smiled the judge. “I’ve got the picture. Now I shall pass sentence. I fine the first one £50 for breaking and entering and the second one £100 for leaving the scene of the crime!”
Now whether you read that as racist or anti-racist, I think it highlights something. We don’t eradicate racism just by changing the words. People of colour, by whatever name, will often get a raw deal. People like to scapegoat and if there’s a minority with which they have no personal bonds of normal love and affection then that minority may be targeted and treated as less worthy of equal love, kindness and respect. When we build friendships we see beyond skin colour, sexual preference and ethnicity. We forgive shortcomings. And if we don’t, we just go about pretending that we see everybody through an equal lens. In the above example, everybody assumed the driver and the judge were white.
