Appropriation

Sometimes a noose is just a noose. Today it's news. If you haven't been paying attention to entertainment news, the gentleman on the left is standup comic and ex-pimp Katt Williams. He actually has some comic skills, which implies that he has more than a couple brain cells to rub together. They were obviously kicking on all cylinders when he decided to blackify the age-old symbol.

I love it.

I'm a fairly strong believer in black social capital, so it never surprised me when Louis Vuitton and Timberland were appropriated by one of our demographics. I've been waiting for the Confederate Flag to be next. I've certainly done it on several occasions - worn a confederate battle flag bandanna and dared anybody to say anything about it. Obviously Williams has the nerve. Good on him.

There are too many real problems in the world for people to be spooked by echoes of a bygone era. I say get it all out there - take it back. Now is just the right time to laugh in the face of lynching, and Katt Williams is just the right kind of person to make exactly this statement. He doesn't have to be squeaky clean. I don't expect Barack Obama to be sporting one. But a high five to KW. The line he should have dropped on the red carpet should have been, "As you can see, I escaped."