Rent-a-negro.com
Sick and tired of white people asking to touch her hair, damali ayo
decided it was time to make the honkies pay.
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By Katharine Mieszkowski
May 14, 2003 | "Do black people get tan?"
"Do you get lighter in the sun?"
"Can I touch your hair?"
"Were your ancestors slaves? Because my ancestors were slave owners."
Eight months ago, damali ayo, 31, an artist in Portland, Ore., had
reached her limit of answering infantile "What is it really like to
be black?" questions from her white friends and acquaintances.
"You can't put yourself in those situations anymore," ayo recalls her
mother counseling her. "You can't just be everyone's Rent-a-Negro."
Maybe not. Or, at the very least, she could start charging for her services.
Launched on April 20, ayo's satirical site rent-a-negro.com, invites
companies, nonprofits and individuals to hire her, "a creative,
articulate, friendly, attractive and pleasing African American
person" to attend their picnics, focus groups, or nights out on the
town.
The site deploys the bold primary colors and cloying marketese of
many an Internet sales pitch: "Where do you find the people to
diversify your life? What if you don't know any black people?" it
asks. "You want to appear up to date, but just don't have the human
resources. One public lunch with rent-a-negro and you'll be on your
way to being seen as the most cutting edge member of your circle."
Ayo, who attended Chelsea Clinton's alma mater Sidwell Friends School
in Washington, and then Brown University in Providence, R.I., says
that she's had a lifetime of training for the job: "My whole life I
have been one of the few people of color, or the only black person
[in a social situation]."
Being treated as a novelty "costs me something," she says. Now ayo's
decided to seek compensation for the "service" she's been providing
all along.
"I have a certain number of white people in my life for whom I'm
willing to do that for free, but everyone else needs to go on a
fee-for-services basis," ayo says.
Her list prices : $350 an hour for companies, $200 an hour for
individuals, but $100 an hour extra if she has to answer a high
volume of "How do you wash your dreadlocks?"-type questions.
"We all go out for ethnic food every once in a while, why not bring
some new flavor to your home or office … for all your friends and
colleagues to enjoy!" the site asks, while promising that ayo will be
entertaining or controversial, as the renter sees fit. It's diversity
with a customizable level of friction.
So far, ayo's received about 40 responses to her rental request form,
which asks would-be renters to answer: "Have you used black people
before?" (That is, 40 responses that weren't of the "I need a slave"
or gratuitously obscene variety.)
The requests to play golf, go to a corporate party, attend a BBQ or
just go to a bar have come from the likes of California, Ohio,
Indiana, Texas, South Africa, Germany and Canada. But ayo says only
about a third of these potential renters are clearly in on the joke.
As for the remainder, she's just not sure.
"I meet enough people every day that are earnestly, curiously
ignorant – 'Oh, I really don't know enough about black people' –
that I can't tell really if they're serious or not," she says.
Already, white supremacist sites are linking to her: "They think I'm
one of them," she adds.
Ayo's experience proves a general rule: No matter how broad the
satire involved, when Web sites like hers or Black People Love Us!
tackle the issue of race, there will always be someone out there who
doesn't quite get the humor.
Ayo has been tempted to extend the performance art of the
rent-a-negro Web site into the real world by actually going on an
engagement, but so far she hasn't found one that fits her schedule
and comfort level.
"There's a part of me that kind of wants to make some money," she
says. "I wish I could make $500 every time I have to sit in the
living room of someone's racist grandmother."
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About the writer
Katharine Mieszkowski is a senior writer for Salon Technology.
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from salon, rent-a-negro.com
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Type: discussion