The Post Election State of Blackness According to Dave Chappelle on SNL

Real talk. There are several things that Black America has been waiting on. For years, we’ve been waiting on Dave Chappelle to come back to television to give us the representation and laughs that we’ve believed only he can give. Ain’t many Black folks in America that don’t get hype at the thought of Dave Chapelle and the possibility of new work. Last week, Black America and every disenfranchised, marginalized and threatened individual in America was yearning for someone or something to express the fear, anger, and depression that arose in the wake of election night. Personally, knowing that Chappelle was going to hit the stage of one of the longest-running variety shows in America the weekend after Trump was elected president gave me a sense of community that I was yearning for. As with every Saturday Night Live host, Dave opened with a monologue. The moment Dave walked out on stage, you could feel every eye burning into him, every breath paused, every heart of every POC who was watching in hope of the representation we so desperately were seeking in the dawn of the new presidency.

In 11 minutes and 37 seconds, Dave addressed the country. He started by with joking about the election results and his assumption of a possible Trump win, white voters, Omarosa…it was canonical Dave. He talked about the number of shootings this year and referred to the horrendous attack on Pulse Night Club and white America’s need to blame every terrorist attack on ISIS. Dave joked about the sh…