“One night Flip Wilson, on the Tonight Show, told Johnny Carson a story of something that had happened to him while hitchhiking through the Texas outback. Miles from nowhere, he was given a lift by a guy in a pickup truck who said he was a ranch foreman.
“He said he was carrying the payroll cash in yonder bank bag, but was also carrying a loaded .45, so if the hitcher was just looking for a ride, he’s got it, but if he was looking for trouble, he’s got that too.
“Cool, Flip said; just a ride.
“So they rode along the highway for awhile, and Flip asked the rancher about all the responsibilities of being a ranch foreman and so forth, and the guy told him about what his job involved. Finally the rancher, who had no idea who his passenger was, asked, ‘What do you do?’
“‘I’m an entertainer,’ Flip said.
“The rancher, without batting an eye, said, ‘All n****rs are entertainers. I mean what do you do for a living?’
“Johnny Carson nearly fell out of his chair laughing. The audience roared. Try that today.
“The story continues: when they got to the turnoff to the ranch, the driver pulled over to the side of the road and stayed with Flip Wilson until he got another ride. As they said goodbye, he reached into the bank bag, pulled out a 50, gave it to Flip, and told him to take care of himself.
“Contrast this outcome with today’s view that if a white person has ever even thought The N Word, he’s an irredeemable racist fit only for the re-education camp. It’s just part of the professional race-baiters’ way of keeping white people off-balance and never letting them off the hook for past wrongs, both real and imagined (increasingly, the latter). The first thing lost by a person with a cause is a sense of humor.”
