Shippensburg University students on Wednesday experienced a night with comedian W. Kamau Bell for a Day of Human Understanding.
The event was mainly about different aspects of racism that still affect America despite work to end it.
Select SU students were allowed to meet Bell an hour before the main event began to ask questions.
When asked about the tension at the places he travels to for shows, Bell said “comedy deviates tension.”
Another student asked what about Bell’s career makes him the happiest. Bell said he is happy he can provide for his family and being able to meet other comedians.
During the question and answer section, Bell mentioned his time meeting the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 2014, which he described as a terrifying experience.
Meeting the KKK was for the first episode of Bell’s CNN show “United Shades of America,” which did not air until 2016.
Once the main event began, Bell started a slideshow that featured pictures of presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, to images of multiple forms of racism still happening in the United States. Bell said he does not understand why people still support Trump despite racist statements he has made.
Early on in the show, Bell talked about the disparity of police killings of whites and blacks.
“There are two times as many blacks killed by cops than white,” Bell said.
Bell also showed images of posters, signs and graphics that featured racism. One of his presentation slides featured an image of the cereal box with Kellogg’s Corn Pops.
On the back of the box was an image of different corn pops doing activities. The only brown corn pop on the box was cleaning, signifying that it was a slave.
Other images featured Colin Kaepernick who caused controversy for sitting during the national anthem during NFL games to support the black community and what he believes is unfair treatment of minority communities.
Bell also mentioned sports teams whose names caused controversy for being racist.
Examples included the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Bell discussed the odd obsession with black people’s hair.
He went on to say that it is never OK to touch or ask to touch a black person’s hair under any circumstance.
Wrapping up the event, Bell talked about his family and how it is sometimes difficult to be in public with his children because one of them is light-skinned since his wife is white.
One day, Bell was at a café with his wife and children in Berkeley, California, when someone outside knocked on the window, telling Bell to get away from the “white people.” The café later closed.
A major point Bell made was about the #BlackLivesMatter movement. He mentioned that using #WhiteLivesMatter is pointless since it is a fact if which everyone is already aware.
“We can’t use #AllLivesMatter until #BlackLivesMatter,” Bell said.
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