National anthem protester and ex-NFL player Colin Kaepernick blasted black TV characters Urkel and Carlton for giving white people an “acceptable negro.”
TV fans will recall the bubbly Carlton Banks, played by black actor Alfonso Ribeiro in the 1990s hit TV series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the goofy nerd Steve Urkel from the 90s series Family Matters, as played by black actor Jaleel White. Kaepernick feels that these two characters are not black enough.
Kaepernick has called the characters “acceptable negroes” for white people to laugh at without being confronted by their blackness.
In a scene in his new Netflix mini-series, Colin in Black & White, Kaepernick attacks black characters such as Carlton, Urkel, Arnold Jackson, and other black sitcom characters, saying that they are “non-threatening” blacks created by and for white people.
“Over the years,” Kaepernick said in his bio-doc, “There have been some very popular TV shows starring black people. These shows share archetypal black characters, including social outcasts who assimilate or conform. Like Carlton Banks or Steve Urkel.”
“White people love these dudes,” Kaepernick says sardonically.
“Everything from the way they dress, the way they talk, even the way they dance. It’s all so non-threatening,” Kaepernick exclaims. “These characters have come to be known by the term ‘acceptable negro.'”
Without explaining just who has “come to know” the term “acceptable negro,” Kaepernick goes on to explain that, “The acceptable negro is a black character who inhabits white characteristics, who makes white people feel comfortable.”
“The acceptable negro is a white man’s creation,” the former NFL player accuses.
“Thing is,” he concludes in the segment, “white people don’t get to decide who’s acceptable to us.”
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