Look South Column

Is it coz I iz black?

It was the infamous catchphrase of UK comedian Ali G — “Is it coz i iz black?” — that perversely came to mind as I watched the desperate scenes unfolding in the US in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It was not the most politically correct thought to have, since Sasha Cohen, the Cambridge-educated white man who plays Ali G, a misogynistic black man, has been criticised for his strange brand of humour by some black comics — but in Katrina’s aftermath his little adage is worth considering.