If I see one more of these between now and then, I might just go ahead and look into Canadian citizenship. Seriously.
A local Republican group has distributed a newsletter picturing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on a fake $10 bill adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken.Diane Fedele needs her ass whipped. Out of all the foods she could have chosen (arugula for example), she just so happened to choose Red Kool Aid, watermelon, and ribs. While that makes for a tasty, albeit nutritionally unbalanced dinner, there's no way in hell this chick just happened to pick those images out of a hat. And moreso than anything else, that's what pisses me off about this story and the 10,000 others just like it that we've seen this year alone.
The drawing harked back to racist images from decades ago in America that featured caricatures of blacks eating watermelon and other Southern foods, often suggesting they were lazy or unclean.
Linking Obama, who is the first black presidential nominee of a major US political party, to such stereotypes drew denunciations from various Republican officials.
The illustration appeared in the October newsletter of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise newspaper reported today.
Diane Fedele, president of the group in San Bernardino County, near Los Angeles, said she had no racist intent.
"I never connected," she told the newspaper.
"It was just food to me. It didn't mean anything else."
She apologised to anyone who was offended, saying: "That clearly wasn't my attempt."
Folks can just throw dumb stuff out there, and when people predictably get mad, they can just play the whole Culturally Ignorant Card and say "I'm sorry, I ain't mean it. My weedman is Black. I love Condi! GGGGG-Uniiiit!!!"
Bump that.
Seriously, I hope Diane's driver's license magically expires, she gets pulled over for a broken taillight, and ends up in the cell with some big buff chick named LaQuita. We'll see how much "it never connected" when Quita gets to whoppin' on that head after she declines to share her cornbread.
Seriously, how can people smart enough to be knowledgeable of racial stereotypes[1] be dumb enough to think others won't be offended when they use them? Somebody already coined the phrase Smart-Dumb Negroes™.
I might just need to get my trademark on.
Some wonder why Black folks always seem to be so consumed with race when all that energy would be better used on yoga, lawn work, or NBA 2K9. Believe me, I'd love to not have to think about this kinda sh*t too, but somehow, in America at least, it always seems to just find you. You can run, but you sho' can't hide.
And you wonder why Negroes ain't down with G.O.P.
"Oh no, not meeee!!!!"[2]
Hold onto your cornbread Diane.
Question: Should Diane be forced to give up her cornbread, or did she really do this without any intention of offending others?
Republican newsletter uses racist stereotype to depict Obama [LiveNews]
[1] Yeah, I know. LaQuita. Pot, meet kettle.
[2] Name that tune. This has to be the easiest one evar.
Average Email
Average FAQ
Average Bio
AB @ AOL BlackVoices
AB @ NPR
AB @ WashingtonPost
Posts
20 AverageComments™:
I saw that "Obama Dollar" story on Digby's Hullaballoo last week, and I'll admit I was wondering if it would turn up here.
Just look at that thing. You know, there's something almost zen about that kind of shamelessness.
Sheila Raines, an African-American member of the club, was the first person to complain to Fedele about the newsletter. Raines, of San Bernardino, said she has worked hard to try to convince other minorities to join the Republican Party and now she feels betrayed.
'This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party," she said. "I'm really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes.'
This is the real story behind the story: how republicans keep sending blacks the message that we're not really welcome in their party.
And you know what, this kind of behavior is more prevalent than they want us to know, and condoned more often than it should be.
Obama waffles. Curious George. Obama Bucks. These ugly racial images are symptomatic of what's wrong with the party.
Hell, she knew what she was doing!
you know Harry Allen, media assasin, was on Farai Chideya's show last week and he said that this sort or racism is a psychosis. Chideya brushed him off. but when I see instances like this, i have to really listen to Allen on it.
Not only did she know what she was doing, but she did it with the attention of gaining national attention and more members to her jacked up azz group.
Did she not remember the hugh uproar that was made when Fuzzy Zeoller said that same crap to Tiger Woods?
Most Republicans are notorious racists, I dont care what they say to prove otherwise.
Makes me wonder why I associated with this group 8 years ago.
Sadly, I bet her stock went up with the good ole boys, thanks to that BS.
I read about this last week in a story on The Root. Fedele claims to have received the food stamp image from someone else via email, and that she thought it was funny so she simply decided to use it in her mailing to members of her group. That's believable enough, I guess.
What strains credulity, however, is her claim that she had no idea the images could be considered racially offensive. I don't think any adult who's grown up in America can believably make such a statement. C'mon, fried chicken and watermelon? That's Black Racial Stereotyping 101!
Fedele then made herself look more foolish by claiming she couldn't possibly be racist because she's got some Mexicans in her family. If you listen closely you can almost hear her saying, "Some of my best friends are..."
Meanwhile, Obama's lead on McCain grows to 12%. I know even McCain is wishing his visibly ignant peeps would go sit down somewhere at this point. Stuff like this is not helping his cause with independents who are (unbelievably) still undecided.
And to answer your question, she knew full well that this was racist.
That sh!t is racist.
Diaspora, I agree completely. The conservative philosophy and political realm has a lot to offer minorities, but stuff like this makes me want to kick somebody's ass. On behalf of all the Republicans who aren't idiot racists out there, I'd like to offer a sincere apology.
There's no damned way in the world "it was just food". What a pathetic excuse.
This was actually a big news item on WTVD 11 when I was in NC last Friday. This is some racist s*** and I am sick of it. They were interviewing a black woman who was a member of the group that released the picture and even she was in tears. She felt it was racist. How can you even remotely think that this isn't. Everyone hides behind that 'oh, I didn't mean anything by it' and 'I apologise to anyone who took offense'. That's essentially saying that 'hey sucks to be you for getting offended by that'. This world is going to he77 in a handbasket. Fast.
It's hard to believe that she was unware of the implications of her actions. Why should an election campaign make any difference? Racism continues to thrive in this country. Too often people like her continue to remind us.
Hell yes this was racist. Seriously, as a white person my jaw dropped when I first read about this. It's embarrassing and dishonorable. And as pointed out by a few others...Obama's in the lead and these ugly gimmicks only hurt the GOP.
Just keep in mind that there are plenty of racists out there but I see A TON of white folks around Northern VA with Obama stickers on their cars and signs in their yards!! There's plenty of love out there too!!!
That Fedele woman is a GD lie and the truth ain't in her!!!
Of course she knew what that imagery would invoke. We're alllll supposed to be fools now, right?? Pu-leeze.
For real, I'm tired of them pissing in our faces and calling it rainwater.
She knew damn well what the hell she was doing. That's some BS about "just food".
@black diaspora - thanks for posting the story behind the story. This should be a wake up call to all the racist Repubs that this is the EXACT reason a lot of black people feel that they would NEVER join the party. That's a lot of "turning the other cheek" and letting it slide. I just feel for those in the party that were really offended and feel betrayed. That has to be the most awful feeling.
I'm tired of them pissing in our faces and calling it rainwater.
Amen!
Has anyone seen this? It's quite funny if you know people who are not sure if they're going to vote in November
http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=T8r4wlb0jgTQo4xNqXpIvjQzODEwMA--&id=
I just wanna know...what does James T. Harris have to say about this?
Oh, wait....
*LOL*
EG
AvgOne,
if you think this obnoxious and hateful type of stuff is going to stop after november 4th... well, i have a bridge to nowhere to sell ya!
with an OBAMA win (and i truly believe he is going to win), the crackpots, closet racists, rednecks, Klan sympathizers, Pat Buchanan-wanna-be's, Rush Limbaugh impersonators, Hannity hacks, xenophones, and haters will kick it into HIGH GEAR! something tells me these Obama Bucks are MILD in comparison to the "blacklash" bumpercrop that an Obama Administration is gonna yield!
The woman in question has been forced to resign.
That should be in big bold red letters on her resumé: FORCED TO RESIGN DUE TO MY RACIST NEWSLETTER
I agree with Missjay. If this had happened in a corporate environment, she'd be fired.
@missjay:
Hell yeah. Political toxic waste now.
In a corporate environment I would have had the pleasure of escorting her ass out of the building.
Good riddance!
Post a Comment