Some of My Best Friends Are ...

By Dana Williams, Tolerance.org. Posted December 6, 2002.

Sally and Johnny must be the coolest white couple around. They claim to have figured out the secret recipe for being "down" with African Americans and they've got a Web site loaded with pictures to prove it.

Just visit blackpeopleloveus.com and you'll find the preppy duo chilling with their impressive posse of black friends. From raising the roof to slapping high fives, Sally and Johnny know what it takes to win the friendship and adoration of blacks.

Sound like a crock? Well, it is.

Sally and Johnny are the fictional stars of a satirical site aimed at exposing some of the patronizing and condescending ways some whites attempt to relate to blacks.

Chelsea and Jonah Peretti, the brother-sister team who created the site, say they're surprised at how quickly the project has taken off.

"It really strikes people in a strong way," said Chelsea, a 24-year-old New York stand-up comedian who wrote all of the site's content. "It's self implicating. A lot of people come to the site and are laughing at first, but then they realize they've said or done some of the things we're exposing."

In addition to the photos featured throughout the site, "testimonials" from Sally and Johnny's black friends illustrate why the couple is so loved.

"Sally loves to touch my hair," shares one women sporting dreadlocks. "She always asks me how I got my hair to do this. That makes me feel special. Like I have magical powers!"

In another testimonial, a young black man writes, "Johnny is generous enough to remark upon how 'articulate' I am! That makes me feel good!"

The site's approach has some visitors in fits of laughter and others fired up in anger, sparking renewed dialogue about the ever-sensitive subjects of racism, white privilege and race relations.

"Thanks for such a great satire," writes one man who identifies himself as a Chinese American. "So many folks don't even realize that racism doesn't just come in big, violent moments. It happens all the time in the form of presumably well-meaning, but totally patronizing, behavior... Thanks for a site that really helps me laugh about something that usually just ruins my day."

Not everyone is so thankful.

"You guys are the biggest bunch of... idiots I've ever seen," writes a black person who doesn't think Sally and Johnny are so cool. "You know nothing about the history and don't connect with black people on a level of humanity, but rather on the basis of race. Get a book and a clue too."

Chelsea and Jonah say they aren't bothered by the wide range of reactions to blackpeopleloveus.com. In fact, they say getting people to discuss and think critically about issues of race is exactly what they set out to do.

"We wanted to make people think about how they're interacting," said Chelsea. "Instead of creating something saying 'You are or aren't a racist,' we wanted to say 'Have you ever said any of these things to anyone?' It's the dialogue the site is starting that is important."

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