Aziz Ansari's Racial Project

Aziz Ansari's set at the recent Comedy Central roast of James Franco is an example of a small - but noteworthy - racial project. After other comedians made racist jokes about Ansari's Indian heritage (Seth Rogen: "This dais is literally Hitler's wet dream. It's got Jews, gays and whatever Aziz is," Sarah Silverman: "I have been a huge supporter of Aziz for years, and for only the price of a cup of coffee."), he took the stand and called them out in a funny, pointed way:

"I think it's so cool that some of you guys were able to travel back to 1995 for those Indian jokes you did. That's so cool! Man, those stereotypes are so outdated, my God! There's more Indians doing sitcoms than there are running 7/11s. We are straight up snatching roles from white actors! My last three roles were Randy, Chet and Tom." 

This is a racial project because it seeks to define boundaries of acceptable representation, using the common language available: comedy. By using humor to let the other comedians know that their jokes aren't funny - and by never explicitly calling them racist, although the implication is obviously there - Ansari effectively shuts down the racist remarks. While it seems like many white comedians simply don't care about not being racist, they all care about being funny. By framing his remarks in those terms, Ansari is able to redefine what is acceptable in the context of the roast.