One day while searching the countless amounts of e-mails that hit my Hotmail inbox, I found a friend of mine had sent me a message telling me to check out this site called blackpeopleloveus.com. So, I went to check out the site. Just from the Web site domain name you know it was going to be really controversial.

The site, when you first come to it, hits you right in the face with the messages they are trying to invoke controversy with. It was totally trying to satirize the relationships between black people and white people. The site’s subject matter revolves around a white couple that loves the fact that they have black friends. So, they decided to put out a Web site to show the world. On the Web site they have pictures of them hanging out with their black friends and testimonials from black people who like them.

When I first hit the site, I couldn’t believe what I saw. These people had the audacity to make a site that catered to their being friends with black people. I was totally conflicted in my views and opinions of the site. Then after viewing the site and looking at it, I started to laugh and see that all of this was staged. The bigger problem of the site was that it tried to satirically address white people’s views of black people.

The site has a section on it where the white couple (Johnny and Sally) are playing Pictionary and Hangman with their black friends. The Hangman part shows Johnny struggling to figure out the missing letter “A” in “racism.”

I was on the floor with some of the things I saw on the site. The testimonial section even has a picture and a quote from a young black woman that says, “Sally loves to touch my hair! She always asks me how I got my hair to do this. That makes me feel special. Like I have magical powers!”

Better yet there is quote from another “testimonial” of a black man and he says, “Johnny always plays up his (Italian, Irish, Jewish, etc.) ethnicity to me as an entree into friendship!” Finally the best one was, “I work with Johnny, and sometimes he stops me in the middle of our corporate hallways. But instead of shaking my hand he gives me a fist pound and says “what up?” He’s so in touch with the street, it’s astonishing.”

Some of the quotes that the testimonials are saying relate to some things white people question. I would say these are sometimes true, but not across the board. Other comments are downright stereotypical or untrue.

The site is full of ideas and notions that show the ignorance of white culture toward black culture. But I wondered, is this also poking fun at the African-American culture?

I would say yes, but also no. I would say yes it is because the site makes black people somehow look like a novelty. I then would say no because the site ultimately is trying to satirize white people’s relationships and interactions with black people. The site is trying to bring up the issues of white people’s quest to be “hip” or “down.”

Though much of the site is a stereotypical machine, it does have many truths within it. For example the quote from a “friend” of Sally and Johnny says, “Sally and Johnny always ask me how the entire black community feels about certain topics. I really respect this about them because I am black and therefore obviously know how all blacks feel about everything!” This statement is true to an extent because many times as an African-American you are put on the spot to speak for the whole African-American community. But African-Americans are not a monolithic group of people who think, act, and talk the same.

The section that comments on links that black people would like is also a concern of mine. The links are only showing a single section of African-American viewpoints and interests (though this maybe a part of the whole scheme of the site). Not all African-Americans agree with the Nation of Islam or NAACP, which are links off the site. And even though it maybe hard to believe, there are also many black conservatives in this country.

Overall though, the site was hilarious, satirical and controversial. It will start many conversations on the basis of its content. Sometimes we need something controversial to get the conversations and debates going, because without communication, race relations in our country will stay the same way they are.

Hey, I might even go to the “Friends” section and tell them I am a friend, too.

Darryl Frierson

is a senior in journalism

and mass communication from St. Louis, Mo.