Next.

 I'll just come out and say it. 

The DJ Noiz jokes are getting old. Especially if you aren't Brown. 

No, I'm not trying to gatekeep a certain type of humour. But, calling me "sole" and "uce" when you clearly don't understand what you're saying is. not. it. 

It was a couple of weeks ago that one of my co-workers was talking about one of her good friends who puts on a "fob accent" whenever he comes across Brown people. In her words, "it's really funny! Like he uses words like so-lay (sole) and you-so (uso) around them, they're so confused!". There I was, thinking about how to tell her that they were probably offended and mildly disturbed. 

Nothing about joking about Brown stereotypes are funny to me. Especially if you are not Brown. The way we joke about our stereotypes is a way of us owning the negative perceptions that people have of us. 

I have heard them all. The 'hori accent', 'the fob accent', 'the corned beef jokes', and my personal favourite, 'the overstayer joke'. Unless you truly understand what it's like to be Brown, to be put in a box with your people, to be laughed at, and to not feel at home in a country that you were born in, stop. 

Please, stop. 

It is not funny because I know you're laughing at me instead of with me. It's different when my Samoan friend is saying it, because we both know that we aren't laughing at the joke with the intention of generalising our people, but we are laughing because we understand. What it's like to be laughed at for dressing a certain way, coming from a certain place and hanging out with certain people. 

No need to insert your non-Brown self into a Brown conversation. 

Next.