ABC News Transcripts November 25, 2002 Monday

Copyright 2002 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.  
ABC News Transcripts
SHOW: GOOD MORNING AMERICA (07:00 AM ET) - ABC
November 25, 2002 Monday
LENGTH: 1908 words

HEADLINE: BLACKPEOPLELOVEUS.COM A NEW SITE ABOUT INTERACTION BETWEEN AFRICAN- AMERICANS AND CAUCASIANS

BODY:
DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS

Well, here's a hot topic for you. It is called blackpeopleloveus.com, a web-site, and it pokes fun at the clumsy way some White people, some of the time, at least, interact with their Black neighbors, trying to be hip and not just neighbors, co-workers and friends. But is it satire or is it insensitive to real racism? Well, let us show you some of it here. Here's how the, the couple, the fictional couple on blackpeopleloveus.com introduce themselves. Hi, I'm sally and I'm Johnny, they say. We are well liked by Black people, so we're psyched since lots of Black people don't like lots of White people. And we thought it cool to honor our exceptional status with a rockin' domain name and a killer web-site. And, in fact, they go on with fictional, testimonials from African-Americans about Sally and Johnny.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

"Johnny is generous enough to remark upon how "articulate" I am. That makes me feel good." Another character on the web-site says, "Sally loves to touch my hair. She always asks me how I got my hair to do this." All right. Is this just good fun or what? Well, joining us are the site's creators, and they are brother and sister Chelsea Peretti and Jonah Peretti. Also, Omar Wasow, who's the Founder of the Black Internet community blackplanet.com, one of the site's fans, I believe. And Boston radio executive, Andrew Ward, who probably thinks it's not a good idea what you all did.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Off Camera) Okay. Let me turn to the creators of the web-site, the Perettis. you playing with fire here? Did you know you were? Did you intend to?

JONAH PERETTI, CREATOR BLACKPEOPLELOVEUS.COM

Well, we were, we were trying to create a site that, that satirizes subtle forms of racism. And we knew that it would be somewhat controversial, 'cause any time you talk about race in America, it, it's gonna have a lot of different meanings for different people.

CHELSEA PERETTI, CREATOR BLACKPEOPLELOVEUS.COM

I think when you're using humor, there's just, it's not gonna be something that everyone's gonna think is funny. I don't think humor is always a universal thing. So, I don't think, if everyone thought it was funny, I would be surprised.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So, does everyone think it's funny? Not necessarily. Andrew.

ANDREW WARD, RADIO EXECUTIVE

I guess, I'm not, I'm not so much offended, as I think you're missing the point. The stereotypes are serious, and by poking fun at White people and throwing Black people in, in there and making it seem as though they accept what's going on, we're not getting to the root of the problem. And when you make light of something, you're lessening its importance, you know, I guess.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And does it bother you that White, two White people designed this web-site?

ANDREW WARD

It doesn't bother me that two White people designed the web-site. It bothers me that the web-site was created in the way it was created.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) Because I think we should point out to everybody, you have a Black stepmother, right?

JONAH PERETTI

Yeah, we have a Black stepmother. But that is just one of a bunch of, you know, different inputs as . . .

OMAR WASOW, BLACKPLANET.COM

And a lot of black friends, too, I understand.

JONAH PERETTI

We have tons of Black friends.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And by friends, but some of the humor was derived from, as I understand it, some of the genesis of this was watching the way people reacted to you all when you walk in together?

CHELSEA PERETTI

I just, oh, sorry. I just wanted to sort of comment briefly on making light of an issue. I really don't think that was the intent. I think, like, for me and Jonah, I think we were raised with humor as somewhat of a survival skill and a way of skewering things that you are uncomfortable with. And, I mean, I've, I've made jokes at funerals of someone who I was very close to, and, and it was, it's a coping mechanism.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So, Omar, is it better to talk about it, even if it's sensitive? And even if it does at least raise, in the satirical way, stereotypes?

OMAR WASOW

Well, I think part of what's clever about what's been done with this site is it does such a good job of looking like a conventional, you know, Internet personal page. That I think a lot of people initially might not get that it's actually satire or parody. And in that way it's actually, it seems quite offensive. And then, once you sort of get that maybe it's actually making fun of these kinds of, as you called them, kind of sort of subtle White, sort of faux pas, it, it, it actually becomes quite clever. And for me, at least was, was satisfying in that here's now somebody sort of poking fun at all of this White kind of silliness.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So, Andrew, isn't it better to laugh about it than not talk about it at all if everybody is uncomfortable?

ANDREW WARD

It's great to laugh any time, but when, as I said before, when, when you start laughing at it, you're, you're missing what's really going on. And I think a lot of people go to the web-site, especially people I work with, people I know. They got to the web-site, they open it up and they laugh. And I don't know if they're laughing because they're embarrassed or they're laughing because they see the ignorance of, you know, this thought.

OMAR WASOW

You see, I think, I think what's really great about is that they're, that this is not a conversation that has happened a lot beyond, I think, sort of very private conversation. There's a, there's a whole kind of world of post desegregation interactions that, that are new and that people haven't brought into light.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So, tell me some of the things people have say to you. And do you laugh about them?

OMAR WASOW

I get people asking me to touch my hair all the time. And, and, and what's, what's particularly sort of troublesome for me is when someone will just touch me without even asking, and that's, that's sort of this weird sort of terrain where, like, all of a sudden you feel a little bit like property or something.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And do you laugh when White people say dumb things to you, trying to be, trying to be friendly by their (INAUDIBLE) .

ANDREW WARD

You, you laugh inside, you have to internalize it. You become, you become embarrassed. I hear, "You're the Whitest, or you're the, you're the Whitest Black person I know." Well, what, what, what's a White Black person, you know? And I don't think people are realizing, I don't think they realize how that affects me, how I feel.

OMAR WASOW

And isn't it useful then to have that brought up on a site?

ANDREW WARD

It is. But, again, in, in the way it was, in the way it was brought up, I, I just, I, I really think a point is being missed.

CHELSEA PERETTI

I think it's, if you spell something out so much that people don't have to engage with it, then it becomes something that's less effective.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) I just want to post a couple of notes from the web-site, if I can, of things that people have written in. Here's one.

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) "It made me look at my own actions and ideas. I realized that I too have made the comment, 'he or she is very articulate' referring to a Black person . . . "

graphics: ABCNEWS.COM E-MAIL LANGUAGE

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) "A wakeup call for all of us White people who think, oh, I'm not a racist."

DIANE SAWYER (CONTINUED)

(Voice Over) "Who think we're down with the black community."

graphics: ABCNEWS.COM E-MAIL LANGUAGE

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) So, at the very least, you've waded into a sensitive subject and got everybody talking. And it's good to have all of you with us, and you're opposing views this morning. Thanks.

JONAH PERETTI

Thank you.

ANDREW WARD

Thank you.

DIANE SAWYER

(Off Camera) And if you want to weigh in on the controversy, send us an e- mail at abcnews.com, or you can go to their web-site, too. That's permitted. We'll be back.

graphics: WWW.BLACKPEOPLELOVEUS.COM

commercial break

graphics: AROUND THE WATER COOLER

DIANE SAWYER

Well, "Around The Water Cooler" here, we're continuing to talk about blackpeopleloveus.com. And I was just saying to Tony and Robin, any instances of dumb things said to you? And did I say any of them?

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS

She said that to Tony, and Tony said?

TONY PERKINS, ABC NEWS

How recently do you want to talk about? Sure, absolutely. I mean, since I was a little kid. When you go to high school and, and the more people you meet, you hear, I've heard all those things. "Oh, you're so articulate," like people are surprised. Or I've had people, when I was in college I had a guy that I met for the first time, I had talked to on the phone. And I guess I didn't sound Black enough, in his, the way he thought Black people should sound, and when he met me, he was literally. You know, like, oh, I didn't know. I didn't expect. So, it happens all the time.

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC NEWS

Yeah. I've gotten that, too. And once they meet you in person, it's the, the, the little look in the eye. But I do remember the earliest time when I was growing up in Mississippi, so I have a lot of stories, was in junior high and went to purchase a pair of tennis shoes. And there was a particular pair of shoes that I wanted and it had the amount of sole to it. I went to the sales person, who happened to be a White person, and I said, this is the shoe I want, but it doesn't have the right sole. And he goes, oh, this woman wants a shoe with sole. Like that. And, again, it was just, you know, I'm in the seventh grade, I'm looking at him. And he was more awkward, he felt worse about it.

DIANE SAWYER

Yeah. But do you look at that as racism or just awkwardness and . . .

ROBIN ROBERTS

No, no. just, awkwardness.

DIANE SAWYER

That's it. I think it's . . .

CHARLES GIBSON

Well, and, and in some ways, I, I, hey, I think the site is right on. I think it, it's, it's dead on. I think it's a very good parody. Yes, it's provocative, but it's very real. People experience that kind of stuff everyday and, and, and the people who are saying it don't realize that they're being dismissive and condescending to people.

ROBIN ROBERTS

But it is a very sensitive subject. But I think dialogue is so hopeful. I think you have to talk about it. Yeah, we all use humor to deflect. But I think when you're in your circle of friends, and we're having this friendship series, when I'm with my friends and boy you look at us, we're, we're the United Nations. We're from all over. We just talk. And yes, sometimes they do go, hey, you know. But it's this, but it's, they're, they're my friends. Oh, my gosh. Your hair, no. I've been wanting to do that all these years, and I finally have the nerve to do it.

TONY PERKINS

Her hair is so smooth. How do you do that?

ROBIN ROBERTS

Gee, how do you do that?

DIANE SAWYER

All right, here. Obviously we've advanced to racial, divide here. Okay. That's good. It's good to have you with us. We'll be back in just a moment.

commercial break

TONY PERKINS

"Good Morning America" is brought to you by . . .

DIANE SAWYER

Still ahead on "Good Morning America," a woman who looks in the mirror . . .

commercial break

graphics: ABC GOOD MORNING AMERICA

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: March 5, 2004