Token "Black" Williams
From South Park Archives
| South Park character | |
| |
| Token Black | |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair: | Black |
| Age: | 9 |
| Job: | Student |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Début: | "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe" |
Token Black (formerly Token Williams), voiced by Adrien Beard, is a character on the animated series South Park. He is a regular member of Craig's gang, and is most notable as being the only black child in South Park (other than guest characters). This might explain why the creators chose to change his surname, and also why his first name is Token. (In television and cinema, a "token black" is a black person amongst a crowd of white people to make the show seem diverse, ergo "token black".) His birthday is June 20th.
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[edit] Appearance
Token wears a light purple shirt with a letter "T" in light orange and a pair of dark gray pants. Being African-American, his skin is dark, though in a few early episodes, he was seen in the background with a white face.
[edit] Family
Originally known as Token Williams, he is the only minority in the main characters' class. His name comes from the phrase "token minority," typically used to describe non-Caucasian persons thrown into small roles in TV shows and movies for the sole purpose of character diversity. In an intentional juxtaposition of racial stereotypes, Token and his parents are said to be the wealthiest family in South Park; his father (Steve) is a lawyer and his mother Marie is a chemist.
In the episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood", Token becomes tired of being an outcast due to his wealth, and successfully gets more rich people to move to South Park, all of whom are famous African-Americans. At the end of the episode, he gets told by the other boys that they tease each other for any faults they have all the time, and therefore they actually had accepted him into their group. However, they decided that from then on, they should tease him for being a pussy, and he decided he liked getting teased for being rich better.
[edit] Relationship with Wendy
In episode 714, "Raisins," he steals Wendy Testaburger from Stan Marsh, (or she went for him). Stan flips him off because of that. However, it seems probable that their relationship was not as long-lived as Wendy's relationship with Stan, as they haven't been shown together again (he was also shown with other girls at the party in Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset). It also seems he is attracted to Sally, as in most dance scenes, or scenes involving boys with girls, he is seen with her.
[edit] Racism
Racism has often been a theme based around Token, such as in the episodes "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" and "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson". Since the demise of Chef, Token and his parents are the only African-American regular characters on the show, and perhaps the only African-Americans in the entire town.
When Cartman threw a rock at Token because Token called him fat along with the other kids, it was classed as a hate crime. When the boys were making a news show for CCTV, Cartman tells Token to change his voice for presenting, which he does. In Free Willzyx, while the other boys have their faces camoflauged black, his is white. In "Follow that Egg!", while working with Lola on the egg science project, he was given a brown egg while all the other couples got white eggs; and he understood what this meant. In the season eleven episode, With Apologies to Jesse Jackson, Token felt offended by Stan's dad saying "niggers" as an answer on Wheel of Fortune. He eventually forgave Stan when he realised that he could never understand how it feels to hear the word from an African-American's viewpoint.
[edit] Talents
[edit] Music
Token can play bass guitar quite well (much to his own annoyance), as seen in the episode "Christian Rock Hard". He also has an excellent singing voice, as seen in the episode "Wing". He sang for the Ms. Colorado Beauty Pagent and won $200. He eventually lost his money when he hired an agent and wound up serving drinks at Sylvester Stallone's son's wedding.
Oddly enough, he also sang a ballad in "Here Comes the Neighborhood", but did not sound nearly as impressive as he does in "Wing" (probably mimed in "Wing"). Cartman attributes both his talents to the fact that he is black (like the musically-inclined Chef).
[edit] Episodes in Which Token is Prominent
(Token is hit by a rock Cartman threw at him, and his father has him go to jail for that.)
(Token and his family stand with Chef as he protests the racism depicted in the South Park flag.)
(Token succeeds the "bus stop test" and the "talent test". He appears to be the best candidate, but the boys say he's too much of a smartass and cut him out.)
(Token, tired of being teased on account of his wealth, invites several rich, black, celebrity families to move to South Park.)
(Token is chosen to watch the Forbidden Tape [actually a porno] at the gathering. After watching, he is in a daze and stops role-playing.)
(Token is Wendy's new boyfriend.)
(Token and the others in Stan and Craig's gangs play ninjas with each other.)
(Token is in the boys' extended gang for their news show.)
(Token is initially upset after Randy Marsh says the "N" word on live television, but is even more upset when Stan doesn't understand why that's so bad.)
(Token is ranked the second cutest boy in the schoool).
[edit] Trivia
- Token is also notable as the character that, aside from Stan and Kyle, is least affected by Cartman's attempts at manipulation, much to the annoyance of Cartman.
- Token's name was mentioned by Brian C. Anderson as an example of 'South Park' being, in the words of Andrew Sullivan, "the best antidote to PC culture we have."
| South Park 4th Grade Class |
|---|
| Children |
| Anne Polk | Bahir Hakeem | Bebe Stevens | Bill, Terrance and Fosse | Bradley | Clyde Donovan | Craig | Damien | Dog Poo | Dougie | Esther | Gary Harrison | Goth Kids | Heidi Turner | Jason | Jimmy Vulmer | Kelly | Kevin C. | Kindergartners | Leroy | Lizzy | Lockie | Lola | Mark and Rebecca Cotswolds | Millie | Philip "Pip" Pirrip | Rebecca | Sally | The 6th Graders | The Ugly Kids | Timmy | Token Black | Trent Boyett | Tweek | Wendy Testaburger |
| See Also |
| Recurring South Park characters | Template:South Park characters |
