If you need fourteen minutes of funny/poignant time today — or if you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to grow up with brown skin in America (and I can vouch that yes, it’s applicable in Canada too) — check out this bit from Hasan Minhaj’s stand-up routine:
For the record, my Dad was cooler than Hasan’s. Dating was fine, as were movies (he took me to see Star Wars back in 1977 when I was 10, and wouldn’t stop doing Darth Vader impressions for a month), but his expectations were as high as Hasan’s dad otherwise. And both dads were amazingly wise.
But the story about the parents who were concerned about their daughter taking a brown boy to prom? That I know well. At my prom, I barely got one foot out of the limo when my date pushed me back inside so that her parents wouldn’t get a good look at me.
Go watch the video, and if anyone sees you near the end, just tell them: “I’m not crying! You’re crying!”
If you want to know whatever became of “Bethany Reed” (real person, fake name), watch his Netflix show, Homecoming King. It is a happy ending.