Black Friend Connect

Black Friend Connect

Apparently “Black Friend Connect” is a real business started by African American Harvard graduate Jerome Smith. He is interviewed in the video below.

He describes it as an entertainment website where they hire Black actors to play the role of friend to white people. I’m not sure if they offer the service to non-white people, which would surely be a racist business model #smdh and not lol

At first I was sure this was a joke, and tears were in my eyes as I tried to stop from laughing hysterically while at work. The more I looked at the site the more legit it looked. After listening to the interview below, I guess it’s really a real business.

The founder explains that they do background checks on both the actors and on the people seeking friends.

Now listen, instead of laughing, just the idea that this is a real business should give us a reason to cry in despair due to the segregation and xenophobia that are both still rampant in the U.S.

Site reads”Every white person needs a black friend…Black Friend Connect will fulfill all of your black friend needs http://t.co/857OMFNXEK

You may have thought Black Friend Connect was a joke if you knew about Damali Ayo‘s web-art-performance Rent a Negro and book How to Rent a Negro.  Here’s a CSPAN video of Damali Ayo speaking about her book.

— Amity Paye (@Amity_Paye) August 8, 2013

When you listen to the interview below, you are gonna trip.  You will fall out laughing at some parts, and you will be questioning  how can the U.S. still be so segregated in 2013.

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• 15 Things Black People Must Do In Order To End Racism (clutchmagonline.com)
• Racist Or Nah? Black Friend Connect Website Matches White Folks Looking To Diversify With Black Friends (bossip.com)