# Is getting a br'er rabbit tattoo racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203 "2011-07-24T20:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/41 "2011-07-25T06:08:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I’d agree and say only trash have tattoos, but I was slapped around for it years ago. ☹ Was Franklin Delano Roosevelt trash? He had a tattoo of his family crest. Barry Goldwater had a Native American symbol on his wrist. King George V, the great gentleman-king, had a dragon tattoo from his days as a midshipmen. All trash, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/42 "2011-07-25T06:17:14Z")
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, more than 15% of _all_ Americans have tattoos. Within the age range of 18 to 50, it’s 24%. Calling such an enormous number of people “trash,” on any basis, can really only be a statement about the person who says it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/43 "2011-07-25T17:58:19Z")
I would never advise someone to get a tattoo, but I have a hard time imagining that anyone would find [something like this](http://cdn2.likethedew.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/3736863169_5d02026b84.jpg) racist. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/44 "2011-07-25T18:38:22Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > How exactly is “tar baby” considered racist? Was it a common slur in the Jim Crow era? Is it because a tar baby appears to have black skin? Or is it just the roundabout associations with Uncle Remus? It was certainly a slur used when I was a kid. And in the stories I have seen the “baby” clearly has features suggesting African descent. It wasn’t just a humanoid shape made of tar. Br’er Rabbit mistakes the tar baby for an insolent black person and reacts by punching him (it.) Sadly, the fable teaches a good message but in a way that is unacceptable today. I don’t think the story of the brier patch is racist in the same way. I use the phrase “don’t throw me in the brier patch” to mean I actually DO want a thing and nobody has ever suggest to me that it was incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/45 "2011-07-25T18:56:49Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > From what I understand, it’s not as big a deal as some make it out to be. I’ve heard from various people that cemetaries don’t really enforce that these days. More and more people are getting tattoos and I expect this restriction to be eased away in the coming decades, if indeed it is ever really enforced nowadays. The cemetery thing is a myth. You won’t be denied burial in a Jewish cemetery for having a tattoo, any more than you would be for having eaten pork or worked on Saturday. However, getting a tattoo _is_ against Jewish law. The fact that concentration camp inmates were tattooed also gives tattooing an unpleasant association for some Jews. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/46 "2011-07-25T19:00:45Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > And in the stories I have seen the “baby” clearly has features suggesting African descent. It wasn’t just a humanoid shape made of tar. It doesn’t look African to me (aside from being literally black) in either the [old illustration seen here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_baby) or the [Disney version](http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Tar_Baby). But for a racist image associated with the name “tar baby,” [see here](http://oldtimestore.flyingcart.com/index.php?p=detail&pid=3&cat_id=1) (WARNING: racist image (duh!)). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/47 "2011-07-25T19:01:39Z")
One of my favorite syrups is [Brer Rabbit brand](http://www.hometownfavorites.com/Brer-Rabbit-Syrup-Light-Flavor-24-oz/productinfo/HFST351/). If that product can survive for over 40 years in our racially sensitive environment, I’m sure your tatoo can as well. I would certainly just pick an image to be displayed. Story-boarding the entire tale across your back might be a bit much. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/48 "2011-07-26T03:24:44Z")
Hmmm. The Wren’s Nest website has a video of a black man telling the story of Brer’s Bear, Fox, Rabbit and the Tar Baby. [In HD](http://www.wrensnestonline.com/)! I say go for it. Previous posters are spot on. It’s about the Trickster, not the Tar Baby. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/49 "2011-07-26T03:55:04Z")
> [@punkpossum](#): > > Ok, here’s the deal: > > I’m a healthy, 25 year old, white guy. I want to get a tattoo depicting the br’er rabbit and the briar patch story. I’m often in tricky situations that reflect the facetious attitude of “oh no, don’t throw me in that briar patch!” > > Now I know there are some straight up racist connotations to the tar baby story, but are the Br’er Rabbit stories in general racist? > > I don’t want to come across as racist or insensitive. Also, from time to time I’ve found myself doing community organizing with afro-centric and black power black folk. I’m not close enough friends with any of them to ask this ignorant ass question straight up. However, it means that even if the racist connotations are esoteric and not generally understood, I may be in a working relationship with those people who _would_ understand it and be offended from it, which would suck even more since I’d be trying to develop some kind of social bond with them. > > If somebody saw a picture of Br’er wolf holding Br’er rabbit above a briar patch on my arm, would they gasp in horror? > > Sincere feedback welcome. Thanks 99% of people would have no idea what the picture was about. I think you’re safe. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/50 "2011-07-26T13:51:29Z")
I grew up listening[sup]1[/sup] to the old Uncle Remus tales, and [this is the image](http://www.google.com/imgres?q=uncle+remus+brer+rabbit&hl=en&newwindow=1&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=np&biw=1123&bih=728&tbm=isch&tbnid=3naOYlDIT2VOuM:&imgrefurl=http://brerrabbitbooks.com/tag/uncle-remus/&docid=CiluKh-L4ICaCM&w=300&h=274&ei=TMQuTrjBEOm80AHo4tzcAQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=149&vpy=371&dur=1941&hovh=215&hovw=235&tx=141&ty=97&page=3&tbnh=143&tbnw=157&start=39&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:39) I get, when I think of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. Not the Disney version. If you could find a tattoo artist who could repeat the line work, that would look damned cool. 1 - I’d say reading, but the stories were written in the old deep south black dialect, so you actually had to read them out loud to understand them. I think it’s kind of sad that the old stories are considered racist. The fact that people are afraid to repeat these old stories, means we’re losing a huge chunk of American Folklore. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/51 "2011-07-26T13:57:57Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I always thought it was Burr Rabbit, or maybe Briar Rabbit. Never read a story or had one told to me that I remember, and never heard of Tar Baby either. I grew up in the north mostly. Br’er. Short for Brother. Think like the more modern “bro.” ---
**Author:** ![Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Romeo\_and\_Whatsherface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romeo_and_Whatsherface)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203/52 "2011-07-27T00:30:28Z")
Instead of a tattoo, which you’re worried could be misconstrued in some situations, why not get a custom tee shirt? It’s not a perfect solution, I know, but it would allow you to express your dry, “briar patch” wit and has the advantage of being removable. Just a thought… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-getting-a-brer-rabbit-tattoo-racist/590203.md?page=2)