Republican mayor sends e-mail with Watermelons on White House lawn

[Smash255]

This was sent from a personal e-mail account,  and it isn't a major city mayor (small city outside of Long Beach, California) but its still utterly ridiculous.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/25/national/main4827964.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

[Landslide Lyndon]

This guy is such a moron, I wonder why he didn't run for RNC chair.

Maybe he is angling to become manager of the "Jesse Helms Institute for Racial Understanding and Harmony''.

[wildfood]

A Republican sent this huh...boy I didn't see that coming.

[Bono]

LOL.

[Holmes]

Orange County embarasses so much.

[dead0man]

I'm not going to make excuses for the guy as what he did was clearly wrong/stupid.


My problem is people shouldn't be offended by sh**t as stupid as this.  Black people don't love watermelon any more than anybody else and even if they do, why would it be offensive to point that out?  I know there is a history there, but the only reason it has a history is because every time it is brought up people get offended.

Or maybe I'm wrong and they should.  It just seems like they shouldn't from this white male's perspective.  It seems like it would be better for everybody in the long run to not get offended by things like this.  Feel free to be offended by things that have a suggestion of violence like nooses and burning crosses, that is understandable, but not fried chicken.

[The Mikado]

I'm not going to make excuses for the guy as what he did was clearly wrong/stupid.


My problem is people shouldn't be offended by sh**t as stupid as this.  Black people don't love watermelon any more than anybody else and even if they do, why would it be offensive to point that out?  I know there is a history there, but the only reason it has a history is because every time it is brought up people get offended.

Or maybe I'm wrong and they should.  It just seems like they shouldn't from this white male's perspective.  It seems like it would be better for everybody in the long run to not get offended by things like this.  Feel free to be offended by things that have a suggestion of violence like nooses and burning crosses, that is understandable, but not fried chicken.

These moves are echoes of far more open racism from the past.




Disgusting, I know.  The point is that every reference to watermelons in that sense is backed up by 150 years of associations with images like this.

[dead0man]

So nobody ever can associate black people and watermelon at the same time again?  It just seems to this cracker that nothing good will come of getting upset everytime you see ignorance such as this.

But again, I can't possibly understand what it is like to be a black guy/gal and at least they take offense a lot better than some groups.  We should all be thankful that the mayor didn't send him an image of Mohammed or there would be dead people on the other side of the world by now.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

OMG TEH WHOLE RETHUGLICAN PARTY IS RACIST!


I do wonder how someone who has been elected as the leader of a community could be this dumb.

[minionofmidas]

OMG TEH WHOLE RETHUGLICAN PARTY IS RACIST!


I do wonder how someone who has been elected as the leader of a community could be this dumb.

While it doesn't exactly hurt, intelligence is not a necessary prerequisite for a political career.
The guy probably hasn't spoken to a single Obama voter in the past year.

[Sam Spade]

This guy is simply ahead of his time.

[opebo]

This guy is simply ahead of his time.

You mean to say you anticipate racism increasing and becoming more openly displayed in america over the next years?  I would tend to agree, but only partially because of the 'black president' - I think the plummeting standard of living will tend to make whites get back to brass tacks as it were.

[Keystone Phil]

And if it was a German, Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. President it would be some ethnic joke, a few small groups would complain and no one would really care.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

So nobody ever can associate black people and watermelon at the same time again?

Not in that way (not without being called out as racists), no.

[minionofmidas]

Well yeah.  If I made a joke about Italians liking pasta or something they wouldn't think anything of it.  Blacks always get upset over this because they live in a culture of persecution.

Persecution? Not quite. Oppression? You betcha.

[Brittain33]

And if it was a German, Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. President it would be some ethnic joke, a few small groups would complain and no one would really care.

This is because the history of discrimination against various European ethnicities in the U.S. isn't 1/100th of a percent as violent, pervasive, and soul-crushing as discrimination against African Americans has been. It certainly was rough for Irish immigrants for a significant period of time, but even then, conditions for African Americans were worse and the Irish were soon "admitted" to the white race.

That said, ethnic jokes have to be handled with care. I remember the hay Al D'Amato raised when Schumer (or was it a surrogate) called him a fascist.

I guess my point is, ridiculing anyone for their ethnicity or indulging in negative stereotypes always has some element of wrongness in it, but there's a good reason why people are and should be more attuned to those that target this community.

[Brittain33]

OMG TEH WHOLE RETHUGLICAN PARTY IS RACIST!


I do wonder how someone who has been elected as the leader of a community could be this dumb.

The mayor is chosen by the city council, and there are 5 city council members for a community of 12,000. It's not hard.

[Keystone Phil]

And if it was a German, Irish, Italian, Polish, etc. President it would be some ethnic joke, a few small groups would complain and no one would really care.

This is because the history of discrimination against various European ethnicities in the U.S. isn't 1/100th of a percent as violent, pervasive, and soul-crushing as discrimination against African Americans has been. It certainly was rough for Irish immigrants for a significant period of time, but even then, conditions for African Americans were worse and the Irish were soon "admitted" to the white race.

Right...so now jokes are only allowed to be thrown at those that have "suffered less." 

My family wasn't here during slavery but they had to suffer. I guess I have to tell them that their hardships weren't worth as much and they can be mocked but blacks can't.

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So now Italians can't be fascists? See how silly this all sounds?

[Josh/Devilman88]

Back before the election my black Obama supporters coworkers where talking about if Obama gets elected that there will be watermelon parties at the white house each summer.

[Josh/Devilman88]

How about we all just do whatever the hell we want without worrying about what others think?  This gets way too complicated.  The truth is that this mayor is a freedom fighter, and those complaining about it are fighting that freedom.  So they can all go to hell.

You should move to AL, you will find people like yourself there.

[Storebought]

This guy is simply ahead of his time.

I think the plummeting standard of living will tend to make whites get back to brass tacks as it were.

Such as can be seen more openly in Europe this past decade.

How many black face monkey chants did the Spanish partake in these past three years?

[cinyc]

Throw him in jail and stone him if he refuses to go to a reeducation camp.

[Aizen]

kind of funny actually

[Lunar]

Does anyone think Obama will be caught with fried chicken or watermelon in the next 4-8 years?  I think never if there's an image-taking contraption present.

[War on Want]

kind of funny actually

Yeah, this was a joke that didn't make me angry one bit. It just made me laugh.