Comedian Carlos Mencia was pulled earlier this month from one of the most popular Mardi Gras parades.The Krewe of Orpheus is one of the three biggest Mardi Gras parades – referred to as “Super Krewes” – alongside Carnival giants Endymion and Bacchus.The titanic embarrassment of being dropped from a list that offers top billing to Jim Belushi and Joan Rivers is an embarrassment wholly deserved.Barely three months after Hurricane Katrina swept through the Crescent City, Mencia couldn’t help but inject his infamously racially-charged humor at a concert in New Orleans.”My take on it is, I think black people, you’re fucking funny. You’re hilarious. You will get on a bus to go to Million Man March, but you won’t get on a bus to get away from Katrina,” Mencia said.Later, he added, “I’m glad Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: Black people can’t swim.”Seven months to the day after Katrina struck, Mencia even questioned whether New Orleans should be rebuilt. A brief, awkward silence from the studio audience ensued, followed by the typical laughter.But this isn’t the first time Mencia has caught slack for racial insensitivity.On multiple occasions, Mencia has been publicly condemned by comedian Joe Rogan for stealing material from other comics. The uproar over Mencia’s alleged ethical misgivings began when Rogan released a short video in 2007 documenting his charges against Mencia.Arranging a face-to-face confrontation with Jewish comedian Ari Schafir, Rogan aggressively taunted Mencia for allegedly stealing Schafir’s material. After flip-flopping around different reasons for the perceived similarity in material, a visibly ruffled Mencia, backed into a corner, came out swinging.”Do you really think a Jewish guy came up with this [joke]?” Mencia said.Mencia then claimed Schafir, star of “The Amazing Racist,” couldn’t have come up with the joke because racial humor was not Schafir’s forte – despite the fact that Schafir’s prominence is primarily a result of his notoriously racist humor.The list of comedians accusing Mencia of theft continues to grow. Among the most recent victims of Mencia’s alleged plagiarism are Bill Cosby and the late Same Kineson.At one point in Rogan’s video, Rogan calls out Mencia for hiding his real name. During the confrontation over the validity of Mencia’s identity, one must appreciate its ironic symbolism. That argument is a metaphor for Carlos Mencia’s life.His real name apparently isn’t what he claims — it’s Ned. Rogan also claimed Mencia was half Mexican, half German – not Honduran.That got me thinking. Mencia shouldn’t be blamed for this because he can’t help it. Since he has no identity, he attacks everyone else’s.But his isn’t about limiting unpopular speech. It’s about stolen identity, or in Mencia’s case, absent identity.The point is not censorship but awareness.Mencia’s identity gap and the resulting thievery it always brings are not an instance of reinventing or repackaging aged philosophies but of intellectual copyright infringement.This is less recycling, more grand theft intellect — or more accurately, grand theft person. In some instances, Mencia barely took the time to change the delivery of jokes, much less their wording.It’s good to know while the rest of America tolerated bigotry and ignorance, New Orleans didn’t fall for it.Thomas Jefferson once opined that when it comes to fashion, one should swim with the currents. But when it comes to principle, one should stand like a rock.I suppose Carlos Mencia is enjoying the currents. While his American counterparts bobbed like buoys on the Mississippi River, the Yats stood firm.Even though we cultural Neanderthals down South may not understand Mencia’s enlightened racial commentary, we sure as hell understand what it means to have an identity.–Contact Daniel Lumetta at [email protected]