BoatBanter.com - No more the Rose Garden...

Tom Francis - SWSports wrote:
On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:17:29 -0600, wrote:

On Mon, 22 Dec 2008 13:22:46 -0500, Boater wrote:

I found it offensive. It is the sort of "humor" one expects from
insensitive white Republican racists. Surely you are not one of those.
Geez Harry, it's music to my ears. The dying gasps of an increasingly
marginalized population. White Republican or Democrat, for that matter,
racists, let them rot.

Hmmm - this begs some discussion and being all by my lonesome while
wife and children are out "shopping", I shall indulge myself in some
philosophy.

Why would that be considered a "racist" image? Why is it that
watermelons are "racist" in concept? I've heard it said that
watermelons, as referenced to African Americans, represent the slavery
era - that the horizontally sliced watermelons represent the grin of
African Americans and how content they were - the watermelon slice
representing the backward, hopelessly inept, incompetant and dedicated
to their master's "darkies".

How did white folk eat watermelons? Knife and fork? What did they do
with the seeds - eat them, pick them out or use a spitoon? Why is the
nexus of watermelon and black folk a "racist" image?

Why, and this is the bigger question, did the noble watermelon, a
delicious herb (the watermelon is a type of herb), come to be
associated with African Americans? Could it possibly be that as a
non-native plant species are associated with black America because, in
fact, they are native to Africa and not the American South?

And then there is the curious objectivication of the watermelon. I
know this for a fact - the Vietnamese use watermelon as part of the
Vietnamese New Year's holiday, Tet, because it is considered a lucky
colour. They also roast and salt the seeds for snacks. I've heard
that other cultures, like Egyptian, Syrian and Lebonese venerate the
watermelon during certain times of the year - kind of like our holiday
fruit cakes kind of thing.

Interesting Science Content: Watermelon is a known stimulator of
nitric oxide through interaction with the amino acid citrulline which
occurs in watermelon in reasonably high concentrations. Oddly enough,
nitrious oxide is a known muscle relaxant and affects people in an
interesting way - as an aphrodisiac.

So, all this begs the question - why is this a "racist" or "negative
stereotype" when in fact, other cultures view the herbal fruit as
something special?

Hell - it's the state vegetable of Oklahoma I think - which is a
misnomer as the watermelon is a herbal fruit, not a vegetable.

I just think we're being overly sensitive - it was funny in a funny
once kind of way.

There is much commentary about the connection between watermelons and
racism. Here is just one excerpt from a longer piece:

Jul. 29, 2003
Talking Race Over a Slice of Watermelon

The watermelons seemed like a good idea at the time. Rain had dampened
the celebration at Campbell Park, and the photojournalist, trying to
salvage a story, searched for a picture that would say, "rained out."
She found the watermelons, stacked two-high and dripping in the drizzle,
symbols of all the fun that had been washed away that day.

She didn't see the controversy coming...

*****Since the earliest days of plantation slavery, the caricature of
the dark-skinned black child, his too-red lips stretched to grotesque
extremes as they opened to chomp down on watermelon, was a staple of
racism's diet. Over time, the watermelon became a symbol of the broader
denigration of black people. It became part of the image perpetuated by
a white culture bent upon bolstering the myth of superiority by
depicting the inferior race as lazy, simple-minded pickaninnies
interested only in such mindless pleasures as a slice of sweet
watermelon.*****

*****Like all racial and ethnic stereotypes, this one's destructive
properties have, through the decades, stretched far beyond mere insult.
It has helped poison self-esteem, pushing some people to avoid doing
anything that seemed too "black," lest they be lumped into the company
of Uncle Remus, Aunt Jemima, or some other relative of racism.*****

As we talked, I told the group how my own life had been poisoned by the
stereotype. Just a few days earlier, I told them, I'd found myself in a
familiar internal debate over whether to take a slice of watermelon from
a luncheon fruit tray. In the pause before my fork stabbed a couple of
slices, I worried anew that white people looking on would follow the
crooked path of bigoted logic that says if one stereotype is validated,
all the others must be true.

We wrestled with the issue a little longer. It was the sort of
conversation we'd envisioned when the faculty leading the program put
the check-ins on the schedule. It was the sort of conversation that
should happen in all newsrooms whenever journalism reaches the ethical
intersection where truth meets racial stereotype. There are rarely
clear-cut answers to such dilemmas. But our discussion suggested some
guidelines for getting the

• Know the stereotype. There's no reason today, with information just a
mouse-click away, why anyone should tromp blindly into the briar patch
of racial stigma. Anticipate the existence of stereotypes each time you
delve into a culture different from your own. Read up on them.
• Listen to trusted voices. Bring into the conversation those who know
history and can articulate why something might be insulting. Then ask,
"Who feels differently?" Listen to that point of view, too. Remember
that you're not looking for someone to whom you'll cede decision-making
power. Your independence, a cornerstone of ethical journalism, is
heightened by knowledge, and that's what you're after.
• Consider context. How central to the story or package is the
stereotypical image? If the watermelon picture were the only photo or
the primary image from the Juneteenth event, it would take on greater
significance. In this case, it was part of a multi-photo essay, and the
other images might signal to readers that the journalists were telling a
full story, not seizing upon a familiar stereotype.

*****I imagine that the closer the image gets to its racist ancestor,
the redder the red flag. A photo of a dark-skinned black child sitting
cross-legged, smiling broadly and holding a piece of watermelon with two
hands –- the prototype for somebody's Sambo -– would be hard to take no
matter how true it was to the story.*****

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=58&aid=42722