Just FYI: I’m black, and I absolutely hate watermelon.
Just FTR, I absolutely do not believe her innocent act.
BUT
I’ve never found the watermelon and chicken thing particularly hateful. It’s a stereotype, sure, but . . . well, I’ve had worse things said about me than I like a certain popular fruit and a certain popular meat. Big whoop. I’m white and those are two of my favorite foods. I don’t think stereotypes (especially neutral or positive ones) are nearly as bad as hateful, malicious racism.
To be clear, what she did was jerkish, but not, IMO, “OMG you cunt GASP GASP what is this election/country/world coming to!”
Fried chicken and waterman are the classic dyad of stereotypical cuisine. KFC just happens to be by far the most well-known and recognizable brand of fried chicken.Collard greens are recognizable “soul food.” Ribs and Kool-Aid are borderline and probably wouldn’t attract much attention if they didn’t appear alongside the others and without any stereotypical “white” food, like bologna and mayonaisse - excuse me, baloney and mayo - on white bread. It’s almost inconceivable that someone who grew up in America could put together this combination of food items along with the image of a black man and not be aware of the racial overtones.
It’s not the nature of the stereotype so much as the reduction of people into a stereotype in the first place. It robs them of their individuality and trivializes them. And if one can say he MUST like fried chicken BECAUSE he’s black, it’s a step toward saying he must also fit other black stereotypes, some of which are more hateful and malicious.
By the way, I’d eat fried chicken, watermelon and ribs everyday if I could afford it and didn’t mind putting on a couple hundred pounds. How come I get stuck with boloney and mayo?
Come on. I’m Canadian, grew up in a really white town, and I’ve heard of ALL these stereotypes applied to black people. The choice of those four foods would be a coincidence on par with winning the lottery.
I’ve never heard a stereotyper say someone MUST like/do/be something. Everybody except the hardline anti-stereotypers seems to understand that they are generalizations and don’t apply to everyone. At least that has been my experience.
I’m not saying it’s ok to go around saying black people love fried chicken and watermelon or whatever, but there has to be degrees. It’s sort of like how you’ve got to be careful about comparing someone to Hitler, no matter how evil they are, because it’s going to cause a lot of people to stop listening to you. Fried chicken and watermelon stereotypes are nothing compared to the more active, hateful racism out there and shouldn’t be dignified with outrage, in my opinion. They should get something more like a rolleyes and a dry “oh that old bit. How original.”
That said, I repeat that this lady is a jerk and a liar. If she admitted it was a joke I would have a lot more respect for her.
Even if she was honestly ignorant of the stereotypes, by the time the controversy exploded, she certainly was aware of them. At that point I think she should have apologized profusely and sincerely and not as she did, “I absolutely apologize to anyone who was offended. That clearly wasn’t my attempt.” Saying “I apologize to anyone who was offended” always seemed wrong to me.
(bolding mine)
And it is wrong. It ducks responsibility. Can you imagine a murderer saying “I apologize to those who felt sad because I killed that guy”? :smack: The apology should be “I am sorry I killed that guy”. The killing is wrong, not the fact that it caused sorrow.
In this case, the whole thing is wrong, not the fact that it caused offense.
I’m not sure that these chowderheads are capable of understanding that, tho.
Yeah, kinda like I said in Post #12.
Well now I’m fucking more outraged. So some unidentified idiot poking fun at Republicans for the benefit of providing jollies to like-minded liberals explicitly and knowingly employs black stereotypes to foster an image of the Republican stereotype. Lots of laughs here:rolleyes:
[del]Boy[/del]Man, have I got a magazine cover for you:
Translation: “someone made a joke and I’m pissed because I donated my sense of humor to a dying boy scout years ago”?
Ya really gotta wonder about this ol’ shuffle and step Har Har Watermelon Negra humor in, what, the 21st century?.. “Hey, cuz, like these Darkies like to eat, urm, um hrrmm…Heh Heh… well, That’s What They Eat!..”
Laff-a-riot. The best response to this idiocy I heard today was from Frangela, an excellent comedic duo, who, if ya haven’t heard of 'em, ya oughta; They are sharp and funny gals. On the Stephanie Miller Show, they addressed this particular crap, and then owned it. Basically, said(paraphrasing), “Umm, Hmm, well, why don’t they just go for it? They’re Lazy. Why not have a bone in his nose, maybe a loincloth?? They’re Lazy with this watermelon chicken crap…”
A joy to hear.
The “fried chicken and watermelon” stereotype is more than just speculation about people’s favorite food. It is shorthand for a whole host of stereotypes- mostly along the lines of “Black people are simple, uncomplicated, childlike and unambitious people. Their biggest pleasure and biggest concern in life is the source of their next bucket of fried chicken. They aren’t really concerned with or even able to comprehend larger political issues. Hell, they were probably happier on the plantation where they could eat all the watermelon and play banjos all day.Politically, there is no need to take their concerns seriously- just make sure there is plenty of chicken at the next church picnic and they will be over the moon.”
Something like this happened about 16 uears ago at aduty station I will not mention. I was single then and living in the barracks. A buddy of mine that was an MP stopped me on my way to the commisary (walking) and told me it was closed.
You see it was Black History Month and some nimrod set up a display with MLK, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas pictures etc…on a table with black eyed peas, watermelon, chicken etc…I didn’t see it but according to my friend it set off a miniature riot when some of the customers got upset about it.
I never got how watermelon got to be associated with blacks as strongly as it is. Everyone likes watermelon, especially fresh Southern watermelon on a hot afternoon with some sweet tea to wash it down. In fact, the people we should abhor are the lonely, half-assed freaks who don’t like watermelon! They should be stereotyped! 
(watermelon-eating grin)
The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with
commoner things. It is chief of the world's luxuries, king by the grace of God
over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the
angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took; we know it because
she repented.
-- Mark Twain, "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar"
I’ve been told that the stereotype of Blacks liking fried chicken and watermelon used to come with the assumption that the chicken and the 'melon were stolen. In other words, the people involved were too lazy to work, so they learned to like food that was easy to steal instead. Charming, if true, but I’d like to see more evidence for it before I believe that was a common belief and not just a few people’s spin on it.
Yes, although in my case it’s “please don’t let it be a foreigner, please don’t let it be a foregner…”
The stereotype of “Soul Food” arose in the 30s and 40s when huge numbers of poor southerners–white and black–left the South and moved to the urban centers of the north to look for work. They took Southern foods north with them. For reasons that are not clear to me (but that I suspect have to do with the concentration of northern African Americans in small areas where as white migrants were more dispersed), those foods in the north became associated with African Americans. The stereotype spread back south.
I honestly think the foods pictured, however, are the least of it: calling them bucks (a very old, southren racist term implying an over-sexed, animalistic black man) and making them food stamps, associating African Americans w/ welfare, both seem more offensive to me.
Personally I would have found her explanation a little bit more believeable if the food had been Haggis,Curry and Sushi but there is something more important that we should be thinking about.
Isn’t it our duty to call the emergency services when we’re in the the presence of an on going suicide?
In this case of the Republican Party.
At least this election they’re showing consistancy in that the grass roots are obviously as dumb as their leadership.
What the hell is going on?
Has the Republican first team all buggered off on an overseas holiday?
I want Obama to win but in all fairness the Republicans do have some very intelligent people in their organisation,not that you’d think so at the moment.
Maybe they’ve all been abducted by aliens and are at this very moment being serially probed in a mother ship somewhere.
Yes that seems to be the most plausible explanation cos I’m fucked if I can think of another one.