Not everyone can laugh at the state of race relations in America. White, black, whatever. Some people have a problem with a serious topic like racism and stereotyping being mocked. Rightfully so, and to each his own.

Racially motivated comedy has a huge share of supporters - look up "Chappelle's Show" if the rock you live under doesn't get cable yet - but it has some prerequisites for breaking into the scene.

One of those criteria is that you certainly can't be racist. If you're willing to mock something while artfully maintaining its sanctity and solemnity, you probably don't take a hard line on the issue. There aren't too many abortion stand-up comics around, are there?

So, with a level-headed, even tongue-in-cheek attitude about the lighter side of race relations and cultural differences in America in check, you'd be subject to the second criteria. It needs to be funny.

Last Sunday, the College Republicans at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island tried to break into the business by offering a $250 scholarship only available to eligible white students. We can only assume this was an attempt at cornering the comedic market, for any other motivation to do such a thing is entirely and unabashedly asinine.

So, if the people who organized this scholarship at Roger Williams University wrongfully believe they aren't racist, and since it's clear they aren't funny, they must have advertised the $250 whites-only scholarship to make a point on how white college students are restricted by affirmative action. How white students aren't eligible for certain minority scholarship opportunities.

Ay, there's the rub. The College Republicans must be invigorating campus dialogue on affirmative action. Apparently, a handful of Rhode Island boys in a dorm room made each other laugh so hard the blue blood leaked from their up-turned noses and made their Stain Defender Dockers ruffle up around their skinny knees.

Maybe people in New England go for humor like that.

But unknown to the College Republicans of Roger Williams University - and supporters of what they've perpetrated - there's a third criteria. If you're going to craft racially charged humor, you aren't allowed to be completely and utterly ignorant of the very subject you seek to mock.

The president of this group, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is a recipient of a minority scholarship. He actively benefits from affirmative action, yet mocks it via unfunny jabs that make a dorm-room in Rhode Island laugh while a nation rolls its eyes at unfunny conservatives gone wild.

Well, the only public laughter outside of these New England jags exists in disbelief. Unfortunately, many people agree with the College Republicans at Roger Williams University, evidenced by donors bolstering the scholarship to its current amount of $250. And just as sadly, many people reading this newspaper probably gave them a silent "right-on."

But when it's not funny, an entire contradiction in terms and, above all else, blindingly racist, the humor stops and the hate begins. Dave Chappelle makes this stuff funny - but runts like these only give themselves and their organization a bad name.