Jimmy Kimmel is concerned that white and black people don’t have enough friends in a variety of races. A recent anualysis of social media networks bore out Jimmy’s concern. The study concluded that black people have an average of eight white friends, and a white person has an average of only one black friend. In fact, 70% of white people have no black friends at all!
Please remember, the anualysis used social networks to glean their data. Consider for a moment how deep and meaningful Facebook ‘friends’ often are. Many friends are actually service providers such as dentists who give a discount for befriending them on Facebook. I once called a customer service line, and was asked by the representative if she could friend me on Facebook, so anxious are some to pad their list numbers, and fill some dark inner need. With this in mind, it is highly likely that we’re in bigger trouble than Jimmy knows. People – in all probability, have fewer ‘real life’ friends than a social media study would indicate.
Jimmy rightly thinks we would all be better off if we had friends of a variety of races. So he got together with his friend Anthony Anderson. Together, they developed a new technology that they think has the potential to change everything. What we need is a new App, called #brothr! Soon, you’ll be meeting new black friends, and #brothr will guide you every step of the way. As Jimmy and Anthony know – a white friend can get a black friend out of messy legal jams, and a black friend will give you instant creds with your white posse.
Try it out, during Black History Month, if you still like it – you’ll both be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in a Puerto Rican pub!