I thought this was a great example of satire. When I lived in Minnesota (sorry ladygreek! :D) My other black friends and I used to complain about "sitting at the black desk" at work. I used to shake my head at senior managers and directors coming up to my 21 year old self asking about other black folks and how they should approach them. I wish I had had the nerve to ask for a "black bonus" for answering their questions! LOL

I'm hearing what you're saying, but I can tell you at nearly 40 years of age, I'm tired of giving Black People 101 lessons. Much of my career, I've been the only AfAm person in my office, and I just am wary about people who try to use me as the authoritah on everything black.

I hear ya. I'm telling you, it got old real quick! I guess that's why I can appreciate homegirl's joke.

I hope Damali Ayo is careful. I'm sure she is receiving alot of monies and publicity due to her website but I am concerned that someone might "rent" her and bring harm to her. The website is shocking to say the least.

In the article posted she says she has not actually "rented" herself out, and it only says she has been tempted to do so. The website was developed purely for satire as far as I can see.

Oh okay. Yes, now I see that eager2learn did break this down for us in her post. (that I originally only skimmed through).

* BROWN UNIVERSITY ALUMNA OFFERS "NEGROES FOR RENT": Several years
ago the University of Wisconsin published a university promotional
brochure showing a photograph of students at a football game. The
problem was there were no black students in the crowd. That was not
an image the university wished to project in its promotional
materials. Therefore, the university enlisted the help of a computer
technician to superimpose the face of a black person over one of the
students in the crowd.
A new Web site - Rent-A-Negro.com - would have been the perfect
solution for the production team at the University of Wisconsin. The
site offers to supply the services of a Negro for those who want to
add an element of diversity to their next social function. The going
rate is listed as $350 per hour for businesses and $200 for
individuals. Extra charges may apply for rented Negroes who must deal
with white racists or with repeated requests to touch their hair.
The Web site is actually "performance art" by Portland, Oregon,
artist damali ayo, a 31-year-old black woman who prefers the use of
lower-case letters in the spelling of her name. The artist, who
attended Brown University, has received hundreds of requests for
Rent-A-Negro. Many of the people who have filled in the electronic
request form at the Web site have done so in the spirit of satire in
which the Web site was created. But ayo has also received dozens of
requests from people who seemingly are interested in renting a black
person to attend their function. (JBHE)

http://www.jbhe.com