Token as a metrosexual
Token Black (formerly Token Williams), voiced by Adrien Beard, is a character on the animated series South Park.
Character
Token Black is a regular member of Craig Tucker'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. He is one of the smarter boys and a straight-A student.
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. Also like the majority of African-Americans in the show, his parents are rich.
Family
Token and his parents
Originally known as Token Williams, he is the only minority (aside from Kevin) in the main characters' class and with the loss of Chef he and his family are the only African Americans in South Park. 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.
See also: Black's House
Relationship with Wendy Testaburger
In the episode "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 Rebecca, as in most dance scenes, or scenes involving boys with girls, he is seen with her.
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.
Cartman is the most obvious source of racism towards Token. When Cartman decides to make a Christian Rock group, he immediately went to Token and demanded that that Token get the bass guitar out of his basement. Token, offended, responded that he didn't own a bass and didn't know how to play it anyways. Cartman shoots back that because he's black he of course owns one and knows how to play it. Much to Token's annoyance, Cartman was right on both counts. Another incident of Cartman's racist behavior was when the boys were making a news show for CCTV, Cartman tells Token to change his voice for presenting because it sounded too black. Token does so, and takes on an overly pompous white stereotype voice. In "Free Willzyx", while the other boys have their faces camouflaged black, his is white. In "Imaginationland", his codename is Blacky. Of course there are times where Cartman does something inadvertently racist without the intent behind it, such as when he once threw a rock at Token because Token called him fat along with the other kids, it was classed as a hate crime.
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 giving Mrs. Garrison an annoyed expression. 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 realized that he could never understand how it feels to hear the word from an African-American's viewpoint.
Also in the episode "Wing", when Cartman and the gang try to become Token's agents to get 10% of prize money from a talent show he was entering, Cartman stated, "Now you're probably wondering 'Hell, why do I need to give you guys ten percent?!'", in a stereotypical voice.
Talents
Music
Token can play bass guitar quite well, as seen in the episode "Christian Rock Hard". However, he is annoyed by his talent, as Cartman tells him it is hereditary due to his ethnicity. He also has an excellent singing voice, as seen in the episode "Wing". He sang for the Ms. Colorado Beauty Pageant 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". Cartman attributes both his talents to the fact that he is black.
Fighting
Near the end of the episode "Christian Rock Hard" Token rather easily beat up Cartman with two punches and a kick. This indicates that he is a decent fighter. But then again, Cartman started crying uncontrollably like a baby after Kyle punches him very lightly.
Sports
Token is seen to be very good at sports playing on the dodgeball team in "Conjoined Fetus Lady", the baseball team playing first-base in "The Losing Edge" and the basketball team in "Elementary School Musical".
Trivia
- Token is also as a very smart 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."
Goofs
Quotes
- Clyde: "What vice did you see on the videotape, Talangar? Is it the work of Sauron's magic?" [Token returns to the table and places the tape there]
- Token: "I'm not playing anymore." [walks off]
- Stan: [steps forward] "Uh well wait, what'd you see?"
- Token: [stops and turns] "I don't know, I don't wanna know. I'm out." [claps his hands, then walks back into the house, sliding the door open and closed. The boys look on]
- Randy: "Yes... uh... you see Token, that was called a pornographic film. Uh, it shows adult men and adult women having sexual intercourse." [Token does not respond, but instead continues to stare blankly]] "You see when a- when a man and woman are in love, the man puts his penis into a woman's vagina. It's called love making, and its part of being in love." [There is a long pause before Token at last speaks]
- Token: And when a woman has four penises in her at the same time. Then stands over the men and pees on them, is that part of being in love too? Five midgets. Spanking a man. Covered in thousand island dressing. Is that making love?"
- Mr. Black: "Jesus! What kind of porno was that?!"
- Gerald: "Back-Door Sluts 9"
- Mr. Black: "Oh Jesus! Not that one!"
Episodes in Which Token is Prominent
- Tweek vs. Craig - First Speaking role though is only line is "Yeah they left!" in a different voice than in later episodes.
- Hooked on Monkey Phonics - He is seen at the dance with Rebecca.
- Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 - Token is hit by a rock Cartman threw at him, and the FBI has him go to jail for that [his father was against hate crime laws].
- Chef Goes Nanners - Token and his family stand with Chef as he protests the racism depicted in the South Park flag.
- Here Comes the Neighborhood - Token, tired of being teased on account of his wealth, invites several rich, black, celebrity families to move to South Park.
- Professor Chaos - 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.
- The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers - Token is chosen to watch the Forbidden Tape(which was actually a porno) at the gathering. After watching, he is in a daze and stops role-playing.
- Christian Rock Hard - Token is chosen along with Butters to form a Christian Rock Band with Cartman.
- Raisins - Token is Wendy's new boyfriend.
- Good Times with Weapons - Token and the others in Stan and Craig's gangs play ninjas with each other.
- Quest for Ratings - Token is in the boys' extended gang for their news show.
- Wing - The boys try to get Token as their new client in their agency, but he is stolen by another agency.
- With Apologies to Jesse Jackson - 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.
- Lice Capades - He is shown with the guys giving Kenny a sock bath.
- The List - Token is ranked the second cutest boy in the school.
- Breast Cancer Show Ever - Token is with the other boys saying things about Wendy and Cartman fighting.
- Super Fun Time - Token is field trip partners with Clyde.
- Elementary School Musical - Token joins the school singing with Bridon Guermo.
- W.T.F - Token joins the wrestling show, his name is Kongo.
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