Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central, welcome to see Pea Time,
Speaker 1: the only show that's for the culture. Today we discussed
Speaker 1: black people and the joyful festive holiday of Christmas. So
Speaker 1: let's start with slavery, because remember, black people weren't celebrating
Speaker 1: Christmas before that. None of us were on the boat
Speaker 1: ride over here going follow la la la, death the holes.
Speaker 1: But once they were in America, many slaves begin to
Speaker 1: see Christmas for the blessing that it was a chance
Speaker 1: to escape while the owners were away for the holidays.
Speaker 1: The great abolitionist Harriet Tubman even used Christmas to free
Speaker 1: her three brothers, which may sound good to you, but
Speaker 1: if I let my sister free me around Christmas, I'd
Speaker 1: never hear the end of it. Every year should be like, oh,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for the slippers. This is almost
Speaker 1: as good as the gift I got you last year,
Speaker 1: not shackles, and then I'd be like, shut up, Bernice,
Speaker 1: you ruin the holidays. Of course, music is an important
Speaker 1: part of Christmas, and black people have been covering and
Speaker 1: improving the classics for years, like let it snow by
Speaker 1: Boys two Men, or do you hear what I hear?
Speaker 1: By me? Here's a sample. Do you hear what I hear?
Speaker 1: Sounds like oppression? But some holiday music is tainted with
Speaker 1: the history of racism, like the classic Jingle Bells, which
Speaker 1: at first just seems like an innocent song about reckless driving,
Speaker 1: but back in eighteen fifty seven, its first public performance
Speaker 1: was part of a minstrel show song by a bunch
Speaker 1: of white dudes in black face. It's a terrible legacy,
Speaker 1: and that's why every time I see a one horse
Speaker 1: open slate, I key that ship for justice. But it
Speaker 1: is also important to recall the true reason we celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 1: Santa breakthrough for black Santas was in nineteen when one
Speaker 1: of Harlem's biggest department stores hired the country's first black
Speaker 1: Santa Claus, which surely was a distraction for customers who
Speaker 1: didn't know what was going on. I'm sure they was
Speaker 1: all like, who's that nigging the red jacket talking to
Speaker 1: my child? After that, Black Santas took a seventy year
Speaker 1: old until two years ago when Larry Jefferson became the
Speaker 1: first black center at the White ass Mall of America.
Speaker 1: A victory for our people, mostly because Larry used his
Speaker 1: employee discount to get all the black people he knew
Speaker 1: off a hero indeed, But Chris Kringle would be nothing
Speaker 1: without the gifts he brings, the toys. Without the toys
Speaker 1: sent it's just a fat bastard that broke in your house.
Speaker 1: And for decades, manufacturers didn't even consider making toys for
Speaker 1: black children. And when they finally did, some of them
Speaker 1: would just paint white dolls black, like this Willie Talk doll.
Speaker 1: Look at that looks like will They got thrown into
Speaker 1: a bonfire. But the great thing about kids is they'll
Speaker 1: like whatever you give them, because children are not very intelligent.
Speaker 1: Like my favorite toy when I was a youngster was
Speaker 1: Mr Chomper Chop. Oh. I played with Mr Chopper Chop
Speaker 1: for hours. I make him bobble, I make him talk
Speaker 1: to me, lose all his teeth. Took the forty five
Speaker 1: years to realize this Mr Chomper Chump was a stapy.
Speaker 1: A good friend, Cornell West, told me that that's all
Speaker 1: the time we have for today. I'm Roy Wood Jr.
Speaker 1: This has been CP time and remember before the culture
Speaker 1: make you put my website up at the end so
Speaker 1: people can order a compact disc in the six watch
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