Vanity Fair magazine (April 27) introduced a barrel of jokes about political figures Cecily Strong delivered at Best White House Correspondents’ Dinner held on April 25th in Washington under the headline, “Cecily Strong’s best White House Correspondents’ Dinner jokes.” The following is one of them:
“Mr. President, thank you for taking time off of Jimmy Fallon’s show
to be here,” Strong said. One joke that had Obama slapping the table
in laughter: “Your hair is so white now, it can talk back to police.”– "Cecily Strong’s Best White House Correspondents’ Dinner Jokes", Vanity Fair
I know asking the meaning of a joke is boorish, but I don’t understand why you can talk back to police when your hair is white.
Is it because a senior person (whose hair is white) is regarded as sensible or authoritative, or politically incorrectly, white hair makes black look white? If it's the latter, why did Mr. Obama tapped the table in laughter to such a risque joke? I’m 82 years old, but I’m not sure whether my gray hair works in arguing with police. What does the above line mean?
Best Answer
The key here isn't that you can talk back to the police if your hair is white, it's that the hair can because it is white.
Ignoring recent events with people being shot by the police, it's generally a (possibly accurate) joke in the US that the police treat white people better than they do black people, and therefore that it's easier for white people to get away with minor things (such as talking back to a cop) than it is for black people.
The speaker is just personifying the hair, and implying that white people can get away with talking back to the police, while black people would be arrested or harrassed.