Ignorance is no longer accepted

Okay, so occasionally, I totally intend to write something more light-hearted and fun. But there are so many issues that need a light shown on them that I cannot resist answering certain questions and/or responding to certain statements.

Recently, the Boston Herald published the above cartoon. Thanks to technology, within minutes, Americans had weighed in on this by posting their opinions on Facebook, writing articles and more. Once again, like on so many other current events, on this subject, we are divided on the issue of race.

Originally, when I decided this would be the topic of today’s blog, I thought “I’ll just tell people why this is a big deal. I’ll just state my claim and my position on the matter.” But I thought it would be better to present a few questions that were posed to me this past week.

How is this racist? They’re talking about the security breach!”

I was actually asked this question four times by four different, unrelated people. So, all right, let me break this down.

The use of the word “watermelon” on its own is not the problem. The problem is watermelons, much like fried chicken, are part of a stereotypical image of Black Americans depicted in the early 1900s. Often times, caricatures of blacks were drawn as poor, uneducated, unmotivated, animalistic creatures.

Post cards, known as “coon cards,” were created in effort to dehumanize, demoralize and denounce their true characters in that time. These cards boasted phrases like “happy to do nothing but eat watermelon.”

There were also songs written that highlight this notion. You know that catchy little tune you used to hear when the ice cream man would come down your street? Yea, the song was originally titled “Nigger love watermelon, HA! HA! HA!” The lyrics of the song call watermelon the “colored man’s ice cream.” In response, black people are shown greedily and happily consuming their slices of watermelon. (see picture below)

So, referencing the new watermelon toothpaste definitely unearths some not-so-dormant negative feelings.

Okay well I wasn’t unaware of the extensive history that indicates these racist undertones, but the cartoonist said he didn’t know. If I didn’t know, it’s possible he didn’t know.

Great! Let’s discuss how you don’t know. I can accept that you may not have known the origin. But I cannot and will not accept that you didn’t know there was an insult lurking behind cartoon. Photos such as these have littered the net, media and Facebook, since President Obama first announced his candidacy YEARS AGO.

And while I understand the depth of the pain and the insult to the injury can go unnoticed by those not in the black community, I refuse to believe that you have seen the cartoons like this and have never noticed that there was something else being said.

“Whoopi approved it and she’s black.”

This may come as a complete and utter shock, but she does not speak for EVERY black person. I watched the clip on “The View.” The point she was making was that she didn’t think the cartoonist intentionally made the comment about watermelon to make a racist statement and that he may not have been aware of what he was doing.

I, in the words of Rosie Perez, think it’s mad suspicious. For the same reason I mentioned in the above response, I think he knew. The other question I have is this: How did it make through so many editors and to the print? I just can’t believe that no one could see that racial reference.

It’s important to realize that the ability to not be reminded of your race is a privilege. And, as a member of the black community or any minority race, it’s a luxury we don’t have. So often times, if it sounds like there is a racist theme, it generally is. Especially when that theme is one so deeply rooted in the ugliness of America’s history.

As a single, black woman, I’m constantly branded with the stereotypes of the people I physically resemble. Whether it’s the genuine surprise that I’m not a single mother on welfare, the assumption that I voted for Obama simply because he’s black or the “compliment” that I’m a pretty even though I look “ethnic.” (All of those, by the way, were said to me in the last week.

So, the long story long is this: Ignorance is no longer an accepted excuse. Refusal to take responsibility will not be tolerated.

And as a final note, that half-assed apology offered by the Boston Herald? You know, the one that said, “…sorry if we published something racially insensitive…” Yea. Don’t even get me started.

#janelle #bostonherald #obama #watermelon