Sorry to hijack the thread back, but I saw a living stereotype during my vacation in Florida…as we were driving around outside Orlando, I saw an AA (African-American) man, tall and gangly, dressed in old, dirty clothes, and carrying under his arm (snicker) a WHOLE WATERMELON. Never saw anything like it! I got hysterical…started looking out for Br’er Rabbit & Br’er Bear…
What was someone saying about preconceptions about the South?
(OK, don’t flame me to a crisp. I am fond of watermelon myself…but most people don’t find it funny to see a middle-aged mom walking around with a watermelon under one arm.)
TIME: 12:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 7 September 2001
PLACE: Burger King in Winter Garden, Florida - a predominantly white, mostly lower income blue collar suburb of Orlando where the residents are mostly Florida natives.
EVENT: A mulleted man wearing scruffy clothes, a Confederate battle flag baseball cap, and Nextel telephone walked out of BK. He climbed up into his truck – a muddy, jacked up, primer grey colored Ford with a Confederate battle flag displayed in the front license plate holder, two large CB whip antennae, a gun rack, and Dale Earnhardt memorial stickers.
Hiking on a road-walk section of the AT in Virginia…
look to my left to see a dilapidated mobile home with a satellite dish, miscellaneous broken household items
and toys strewn about the yard and a van on blocks sporting an enourmous tapestry of the rebel flag
with a skull and the words “The south shall rise again”
I can’t believe I forgot this one. Theobroma’s post reminded me:
A few years ago, my husband and I were watching a parade on TV. The news crew that was there to cover it at the time was comprised solely of African Americans. They had been talking for a while about how great the parade was, what a beautiful day it was, etc. Then one of the news guys (also an AA) comes over with a plate full of food and exclaims, “Hey! Check it out! Fried chicken!” And the other reporters (who had previously been very composed and idly chattering about the weather) all start grabbing chicken off the plate, chowing down on it, and making “mmm mmm” noises. There were several exclamations of “Mm mm…nothing better than fried chicken on a hot summer day…” I could swear I heard one of them ask for watermelon.
Hubby and I could not believe what we were seeing.
So this guy comes into the music department the other day, great big jeans, tie-dyed tee-shirt, little square glasses tinted yellow. Scruffy hair, goatee. And he’s buying…Phish.
Yawn. It would have been cool if he were buying, like, Frank Sinatra or something.
Seen around these here parts: There’s a guy who drives his olive green Jeep around with four seperate Confederate Battle Flag stickers on the back, and one pirate (!) sticker. He always wears a baseball cap as well. Oh yeah. He also has two seperate CB attennas with coozies on them.
Makes me embarrased to be a Texan.
Also, I seen more than my fair share of old drivers driving superslow in the fast lane.