Mayor Dean Grose of Los Alamitos, California has resigned after sending friends an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.” Not only is the picture strikingly unfunny and racist, Grose sent it to an African-American businesswoman among his “small group of friends”– a group that is decidedly smaller this week.
Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, demanded a public apology: I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes. I honestly don’t even understand where he was coming from, sending this to me. As a black person receiving something like this from the city-freakin’-mayor — come on.”
CCD,
You wouldn’t mind regaling us with a selection from the soundtrack to the musical “Hair” would you?
Tina,
If your serious then that is fantastic! But I don’t think we as a country have caught up to your level of awareness.
If your fading this in any way then we have farther to travel socially towards equality for all.
Ridiculous!!!! I would like to see CNN do a poll on those people who understood, before today, that there was some sort of connection between African Americans and Watermelons.
I saw that report and had NO idea what the fuss was about. I tried hard to imagine where the racism was in that joke and even asked a few friends on facebook. No one had ever recalled hearing African Americans being compared to watermelons or any other fruit.
I feel horrible for that Mayor who felt he needed to resign over it. I believe with all my heart he didn’t see it either. I think people are WAY to sensitive and blow this stuff way out of proportion. I think it is obvious to most of us that this was an honest mistake. CNN there must be actual “newsworthy” stories out there.
Monkey and the Whitehouse??? Didn’t get that connection either.
RCampbell:
that is what I think, racism is nothing more than the incorrect notion that the pie is only so big. What people forget is that the pie is infinitely expandable, the more people the more markets the bigger the pie becomes. Whites in the south missed a big opportunity for growth.
LEO
Yes I would and yes, I have. I find all these generalizations offensive. They are all examples of a majority population seeking to define a minority population in negative and derogatory terms in order to control that minority population’s acceptance and assimilation into the larger society. This is often done to instill fear in the larger society that the minority (the other) they will take away opportunities from the majority.
Huggy,
Great link.
FFLEO,
I don’t like any stereotyping whether it be at Irish, Scots, Italians, Hispanics, Hindu’s, Muslim’s, Christians, Native Americans,Jews, etc. It offends me deeply especially because it’s all such crap. Free speech though does give license and I’m not a fan of any laws that would ban it. However, public opprobrium is a valid way to oppose bigotry. This is especially true of public officials and of pundits. One can look back at the bigotry the Irish emigrants faced coming to America and part of what they had to break through was stereotyping.
Africans brought to America as slaves and Native Americans the victims of genocide and broken promises, deserve greater care in public discourse. From your writing I assume we are similar in age and so you are quite familiar with the cartoons we saw as children showing blacks as figures of ridicule, or Movies like the Charlie Chan series that were paragons of bigotry.
I genuinely believe that this mayor was stunned by the reaction he received. His understanding of the issues was so superficial that he was ignorant of the hurtful nature of his E Mail. His resignation is the price he had to pay for his ignorance. Many of us, including myself, have had to pay the price of ignorance in our lives.
I can remember now with shame, laughing at the claims of an Armenian friend in College talking about the Armenian Genocide. In my ignorance I derided his claims and disparaged the whole idea of Armenian ethnicity. That I as a proud Jew, acted with such ignorance of anothers ethnic pride and wounds is something I still regret even though it happened forty years ago. Hopefully, this Mayor will be able to make amends sooner and that process has now begun.
I’m as Irish as FFLEO (with just enough Blackfoot to be proud of it but just one generation shy of benefits) and I’ll say without restriction that I love fried chicken, greens and watermelon. I also love sushi and anything Japanese. Mexico doesn’t make a pepper too hot for me. I could eat my weight in corned beef, cabbage and potatoes too if I wasn’t concerned about cholesterol. Chinese food for any meal including breakfast is always appreciated. And nothing supports a hard night drinking like German or Russian food. If your looking to impress the ladies, a night in Tuscany or Sicilian dining is usually rewarding. But whatever it is, what grandma made is always the best.
Different culinary traditions are a wonderful way to gain understanding of a culture.
Did I mention tasty?
FFLEO:
You make a good point, and I know the Irish did not have an easy time of it when they first came here-“Irish Need Not Apply” signs were common.
What about the fact that this was a mayor and not an individual citizen, I think the mayor has a lower bar to cross than an individual. What do the lawyers think?
Anyway jokes go to sterotypes of races or individuals because of one or more traits that people find humurous. Although I am sure some of this type of humor is meant to sting.
I once ordered fried chicken for lunch with a black foreman and he gave me a hard time about it. But I love fried chicken and I coould not convince him otherwise. He thought I was playing to a stereotype and he ribbed me for a couple of days afterward about it, albeit good naturedly.
That story has something to do with this but I cant figure out what it is, any help is appreciated.
Former Fed, I’m not up in arms, I just don’t like it. Few, if any, subjects generate the emotional response of black and white relations in America, for us Americans. Bottom line though – we don’t get to define what others find offensive. If you say you’re offended by something, anything, I can try to understand, but whether I do or don’t will not alter the fact you’re offended.
I don’t tell ethnic jokes. Ever. When someone says something that they know or should know is racially offensive to a lot of people, sure its their right to say it, but that is a lame response when they get called on it. Decorum demands better judgment and the lack of said judgment, in my mind, is indicative of something more sinister.
I do not have the time to write much now, but I have a question.
Would you be as up-in-arms if someone said of an Irish-American president that he was a’turnin’ the rose garden into a Irish potato patch?
How about a German-American “kraut” who is digging up the roses to plant a cabbage patch to cook up some sauerkraut?
Think of your own ethnic joke regarding any nationalities’ vegetables, fruits, etc.
Isn’t this free speech satire? Do you prefer to limit speech?
Full disclosure: I am mostly Irish-American.
huggy, very good link. Thanks.
Jericho, this one’s for you and any others who want an historical perspective on this watermelon issue.
http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/may08/
Jericho, you are entitled to an answer.
For many years, African Americans were portrayed in ways that were stereotypes. These were generalizations that demeaned them. They were portrayed as objects of amusement who spoke poorly, dressed poorly, and, among other things, ate watermelons.
This mayor was using the watermelons in a manner that reminded people of these demeaning stereotypes.
rc,
Good show!
rcampbell,
Well said.
We are experiencing the maturation of a nation.
Integrity trumps morality.
Thanks for expressing it so succinctly rcampbell.
Jericho:
trust me it was very racist and the mayor should have been shunned and voted out of office or resigned as he did.
Not really professional.
Sorry to say as a simple Belgian, I don’t have the linguïstic capacity to pick up the rascism in this email. Maybe someone wants to explain…
This is how our racism gets passed from one to another. It’s not done by KKK-type mass meetings or public displays of hatred and bigotry, it’s done subtly, quietly, below the radar. Despite public utterances to the contrary, it often gets passed along as dinner conversation, bar talk, barber shop chatter, jokes on the 4th tee box, emails to “like-minded” folks, etc. This happens on both sides of the black/white divide.
It can only stop when we individually speak up and say that we prefer not to participate in others spreading of hate and bigotry. Taking that stand is sometimes done at some risk to one’s relationships with those who choose to maintain these ugly feelings, but that’s the way to expose it to the light, marginalize it within one’s circle of acquaintances and verbally express one’s genuine desire to make a contribution to changing our society for the better one person at a time.