Client at Haitian Community Fair hosted by Catholic Charities and supported by CWS New York
It is almost impossible to overstate the significance of humor to human development. While historians believe that the oldest recorded joke dates back to 1900 BC, I am personally convinced that humans have employed humor as long as we have possessed language. Our place in the world is defined in part by our ability to make and understand jokes, which often grease the wheels of our personal and professional relationships.
Moreover, certain types of humor can be employed to indirectly discuss taboo or ‘untouchable’ subjects—this humor is known colloquially as ‘gallows’ or ‘dark’ humor. Often, we employ this form of humor to address frightening or disturbing topics with levity. This practice can even correlate to an alleviation of trauma, and offers a direct route to topics that may otherwise be considered inappropriate but nonetheless important.
The impulse to laugh at the absurd, or mock the frightening, is natural. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to me that following the explosion of outrageous, debunked claims of Haitian immigrants in Ohio stealing and eating household pets, I witnessed an immediate subsequent rise in social media jokes parroting the claims to highlight their absurdity. Many people who support the welcome of vulnerable migrants rallied against the racist allegations, reposting videos and memes which emphasized the morally bankrupt and ludicrous nature of such rhetoric.
There is just one problem. I have watched with growing apprehension as the jokes flooded my social media feeds, realizing with horror that this stereotype—which has long plagued Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States—was now irrevocably woven into Americans’ image of the Haitian community. By parroting the allegations, we have placed our conscious and subconscious attention on the subjects of those claims, rather than on the individuals responsible for peddling racist and nationalistic rhetoric. The jokes have taken on lives of their own, spurring TikTok dances, videos and an audio which loops a recording of the claim to music, ensuring that these few horrible days will remain ingrained in public consciousness for years to come.
While many of the people who are contributing to this media trend are doing so in order to voice their support of Haitians and other migrants, unfortunately, this method has the potential to do more harm than good. Scholarly evidence indicates that as social conventions shift to disallow overtly racist rhetoric, humor-based and ‘indirect’ racism has become increasingly popular as a means of circumventing social and professional backlash. Herein lies what I believe to be the crux of the issue: while ‘gallows’ humor has traditionally been employed as a method by which to challenge taboo and mainstream ideas, it can and has been co-opted by those who seek to utilize indirect means to peddle and disseminate dangerous, extremist ideas. Worse, it can become unintentionally damaging to the very community it was supposed to protect.
Even if you are extremely confident in your ability to discern between dangerous and benign dark humor, keep in mind that the communities most impacted by this rhetoric are also watching us make jokes while they are forced to stay home from school due to bomb threats, miss work and endure physical and psychological intimidation. While there is no doubt that this slew of hatred will leave an indelible mark on all of our Haitian neighbors, it is likely also true that they will be left traumatized by the deluge of humor-based social media posts which make light of the accusations leading to their brutalization. Adolescents will be most impacted, as psychological studies show that they are the most at-risk for internalizing racialized abuse, and least equipped to discern the intention behind such jokes.
Dehumanization is the foundation of racist rhetoric and has been relentlessly employed against various marginalized communities throughout history. Mainstream and fringe media outlets alike have often been guilty of perpetuating extremely negative stereotypes of minorities as subhuman and dangerous, and peddlers of racism have time and time again employed this strategy of humiliation in order to advance harmful agendas. Now, however, technology offers the ability for racially insensitive messaging to flood an impacted community, transforming the lives of people who have likely already survived forcible displacement, family separation, and violence.
We all love jokes and rely on them to keep our spirits up in the tireless fight for justice and equality. However, if you yourself are not a member of a community impacted by racist stereotypes or anti-immigrant rhetoric, you might consider thinking twice before reposting that funny video which loops an insensitive joke over a dance or soundtrack, even if you only mean to highlight the absurdity. Social media is constantly shaping our conscious and subconscious minds, whether we like it or not—and it’s just possible you may be inadvertently feeding into an already dangerous cultural phenomenon, which has already become an inescapable nightmare for our Haitian neighbors.
I am reminded of something a friend sagely pointed out to me, a long time ago: ‘gallows’ humor is only an accurate description of dark humor when you are personally involved. Otherwise, it simply becomes a morbid joke at another person’s expense.
Madison O’Day is CWS’ Media Associate on the Press Team.