If you’ve spent any increment of time with me, you’ve probably noticed me making a “white person” joke.

Whether it be at a lack of dance skills, intolerance of spicy foods or just a general “that’s so white,” I try to never miss an opportunity to take a jab at the so-called “superior” Caucasian race.

As easy as it is to make the assumption given this information, I’m not a self-hating white person.

I see no reason to search for another source of oppression, and have grown to the point where I understand that privilege isn’t something one chooses to have. However, I also know that throughout history, people of the same skin tone as me have enslaved, murdered, forcefully converted and raped others on the basis of race alone. Even today we lock up people of color in an unfair prison system, gentrify neighborhoods and continue attempts to appropriate other cultures. This means that, by comparison, getting called out for wearing a Hawaiian polo shirt is virtually nothing.

A culture of comedy based upon stereotypes is nothing new. How many times have we heard jokes about the sassy black woman?

Seen a “hilarious” sketch about a gay man’s love of fashion? Watched Asian people get ripped on for a quote-unquote lack of social skills? Yes, these characterizations can be harmful when done in excess-- but what’s arguably even more harmful is the lack of jokes aimed towards the group typically cracking them. Telling a joke about white people often triggers that unfortunate accusation of “reverse racism” (which, news flash, doesn’t actually exist) when told in the presence of other white people, and that simply isn’t fair. If we as a race somehow have a right to laugh at everyone else, what’s the harm in chuckling at a joke teasing us for a change?

Cracking a joke about my pastiness or stereotypical love of Starbucks isn’t hurting anyone, especially because the institutionalized nature of racism maintains the dominance of white people in all things. A challenge to this status quo is honestly a good thing, especially as the need for racial equality becomes even more glaringly obvious. And laughing at yourself is quite an enjoyable way to begin an effort to offset these traditional norms.

So to all my white readers, please try not to take offense next time someone makes a joke about “white people.”

I promise you that having your casserole obsession critiqued is nothing compared to the actual struggles that people of color face-- because at least this stereotype-based humor doesn’t come with the added bonuses of hundreds of years of oppression, lacking of basic human rights and, for those in need of a particularly hardy punchline, a bullet to the head.