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I don’t think (in)sensitivity was concern here
Another bad school assignment (18 Viewers)
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Another article
==============
……But the stereotype that African Americans are excessively fond of watermelon emerged for a specific historical reason and served a specific political purpose. The trope came in full force when slaves won their emancipation during the Civil War.
Free black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons, and in doing so made the fruit a symbol of their freedom. Southern whites, threatened by blacks’ newfound freedom, responded by making the fruit a symbol of black people’s perceived uncleanliness, laziness, childishness, and unwanted public presence.
This racist trope then exploded in American popular culture, becoming so pervasive that its historical origin became obscure. Few Americans in 1900 would’ve guessed the stereotype was less than half a century old.
Not that the raw material for the racist watermelon trope didn’t exist before emancipation. In the early modern European imagination, the typical watermelon-eater was an Italian or Arab peasant.
The watermelon, noted a British officer stationed in Egypt in 1801, was “a poor Arab’s feast,” a meager substitute for a proper meal. In the port city of Rosetta he sawthe locals eating watermelons “ravenously … as if afraid the passer-by was going to snatch them away,” and watermelon rinds littered the streets.
There, the fruit symbolized many of the same qualities as it would in post-emancipation America: uncleanliness, because eating watermelon is so messy. Laziness, because growing watermelons is so easy, and because it’s hard to eat watermelon and keep working—it’s a fruit you have to sit down and eat.
Childishness, because watermelons are sweet, colorful, and devoid of much nutritional value. And unwanted public presence, because it’s hard to eat a watermelon by yourself.
These tropes made their way to America, but the watermelon did not yet have a racial meaning. Americans were just as likely to associate the watermelon with white Kentucky hillbillies or New Hampshire yokels as with black South Carolina slaves.
This may be surprising, given how prominent watermelons were in enslaved African Americans’ lives. Many slave owners let their slaves grow and sell their own watermelons, or even let them take a day off during the summer to eat the first watermelon harvest.
The slave Israel Campbellwould slip a watermelon into the bottom of his cotton basket when he fell short of his daily quota, and then retrieve the melon at the end of the day and eat it.
Campbell taught the trick to another slave who was often whipped for not reaching his quota, and soon it was widespread. When the year’s cotton fell a few bales short of what the master had figured, it simply remained “a mystery.”
But southern whites saw their slaves’ enjoyment of watermelon as a sign of their own supposed benevolence. Slaves were usually careful to enjoy watermelon according to the code of behavior established by whites.
When an Alabama overseer cut open watermelons for the slaves under his watch, he expected the children to run to get their slice.
One boy, Henry Barnes, refused to run, and once he did get his piece he would run off to the slave quarters to eat out of the white people’s sight. His mother would then whip him, he remembered, “fo’ being so stubborn.”
The whites wanted Barnes to play the part of the watermelon-craving, juice-dribbling pickaninny. His refusal undermined the tenuous relationship between master and slave.
Emancipation, of course, destroyed that relationship. Black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons during slavery, but now when they did so it was a threat to the racial order.
To whites, it seemed now as if blacks were flaunting their newfound freedom, living off their own land, selling watermelons in the market, and—worst of all—enjoying watermelon together in the public square.
One white family in Houston was devastated when their nanny Clara left their household shortly after her emancipation in 1865. Henry Evans, a young white boy to whom Clara had likely been a second mother, cried for days after she left.
But when he bumped into her on the street one day, he rejected her attempt to make peace. When Clara offered him some watermelon, Henry told her that “he would not eat what free negroes ate.”
Newspapers amplified this association between the watermelon and the free black person.
In 1869, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaperpublished perhaps the first caricature of blacks reveling in eating watermelon.
The adjoining article explained, “The Southern negro in no particular more palpably exhibits his epicurean tastes than in his excessive fondness for watermelons. The juvenile freedman is especially intense in his partiality for that refreshing fruit.”……….
www.theatlantic.com
==============
……But the stereotype that African Americans are excessively fond of watermelon emerged for a specific historical reason and served a specific political purpose. The trope came in full force when slaves won their emancipation during the Civil War.
Free black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons, and in doing so made the fruit a symbol of their freedom. Southern whites, threatened by blacks’ newfound freedom, responded by making the fruit a symbol of black people’s perceived uncleanliness, laziness, childishness, and unwanted public presence.
This racist trope then exploded in American popular culture, becoming so pervasive that its historical origin became obscure. Few Americans in 1900 would’ve guessed the stereotype was less than half a century old.
Not that the raw material for the racist watermelon trope didn’t exist before emancipation. In the early modern European imagination, the typical watermelon-eater was an Italian or Arab peasant.
The watermelon, noted a British officer stationed in Egypt in 1801, was “a poor Arab’s feast,” a meager substitute for a proper meal. In the port city of Rosetta he sawthe locals eating watermelons “ravenously … as if afraid the passer-by was going to snatch them away,” and watermelon rinds littered the streets.
There, the fruit symbolized many of the same qualities as it would in post-emancipation America: uncleanliness, because eating watermelon is so messy. Laziness, because growing watermelons is so easy, and because it’s hard to eat watermelon and keep working—it’s a fruit you have to sit down and eat.
Childishness, because watermelons are sweet, colorful, and devoid of much nutritional value. And unwanted public presence, because it’s hard to eat a watermelon by yourself.
These tropes made their way to America, but the watermelon did not yet have a racial meaning. Americans were just as likely to associate the watermelon with white Kentucky hillbillies or New Hampshire yokels as with black South Carolina slaves.
This may be surprising, given how prominent watermelons were in enslaved African Americans’ lives. Many slave owners let their slaves grow and sell their own watermelons, or even let them take a day off during the summer to eat the first watermelon harvest.
The slave Israel Campbellwould slip a watermelon into the bottom of his cotton basket when he fell short of his daily quota, and then retrieve the melon at the end of the day and eat it.
Campbell taught the trick to another slave who was often whipped for not reaching his quota, and soon it was widespread. When the year’s cotton fell a few bales short of what the master had figured, it simply remained “a mystery.”
But southern whites saw their slaves’ enjoyment of watermelon as a sign of their own supposed benevolence. Slaves were usually careful to enjoy watermelon according to the code of behavior established by whites.
When an Alabama overseer cut open watermelons for the slaves under his watch, he expected the children to run to get their slice.
One boy, Henry Barnes, refused to run, and once he did get his piece he would run off to the slave quarters to eat out of the white people’s sight. His mother would then whip him, he remembered, “fo’ being so stubborn.”
The whites wanted Barnes to play the part of the watermelon-craving, juice-dribbling pickaninny. His refusal undermined the tenuous relationship between master and slave.
Emancipation, of course, destroyed that relationship. Black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons during slavery, but now when they did so it was a threat to the racial order.
To whites, it seemed now as if blacks were flaunting their newfound freedom, living off their own land, selling watermelons in the market, and—worst of all—enjoying watermelon together in the public square.
One white family in Houston was devastated when their nanny Clara left their household shortly after her emancipation in 1865. Henry Evans, a young white boy to whom Clara had likely been a second mother, cried for days after she left.
But when he bumped into her on the street one day, he rejected her attempt to make peace. When Clara offered him some watermelon, Henry told her that “he would not eat what free negroes ate.”
Newspapers amplified this association between the watermelon and the free black person.
In 1869, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaperpublished perhaps the first caricature of blacks reveling in eating watermelon.
The adjoining article explained, “The Southern negro in no particular more palpably exhibits his epicurean tastes than in his excessive fondness for watermelons. The juvenile freedman is especially intense in his partiality for that refreshing fruit.”……….
How Watermelons Became a Racist Trope
Before its subversion in the Jim Crow era, the fruit symbolized black self-sufficiency.
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So still reading “Black Smoke” and so far pretty pleased. Goes through the history of smoking. Learned that The restaurant chain Famous Dave’s is actually from an American Indian. They even included the rib recipe and instructions in the book.
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One of my kids works there. Love their ribs and brisket. Their sauces are tasty as well. Plus, my name is Dave.
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Freddie Wheeler’s BBQ sauce. His grandmother gave him the recipe and she was with the Blackfoot Nation.
1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
¼ cup yellow mustard
2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup honey
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large onion, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chile powder
2–3 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1. In a large saucepan, whisk together the tomato sauce and mustard. 2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. 3. Bring to a boil. 4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally and tasting to adjust seasonings. 5. Serve warm. Store in jars in the refrigerator.
1 (29-ounce) can tomato sauce
¼ cup yellow mustard
2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup honey
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
1 large onion, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chile powder
2–3 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1. In a large saucepan, whisk together the tomato sauce and mustard. 2. Stir in the remaining ingredients. 3. Bring to a boil. 4. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally and tasting to adjust seasonings. 5. Serve warm. Store in jars in the refrigerator.
sfidc3
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One of my kids works there. Love their ribs and brisket. Their sauces are tasty as well. Plus, my name is Dave.
Long ago, maybe 2009 or 10. We had a soccer tournament in Richmond and our hotel was next to one. We were pleasantly surprised how good it was, the pulled pork nachos were one of the best I'd had.....
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An Arlington Public Schools 8th grade student and his mother are demanding answers after they tell 7News a long-term substitute teacher forced him to pick up cotton with his face for a game.
Sidney Rousey is a Gunston Middle School 8th grade student, and said this happened last Wednesday. At that point, he felt pressured by his peers and the substitute teacher.
His mother, Keisha Kirkland, said she immediately went to the school looking for an explanation. The two of them spoke only to 7News.
"I didn't know what emotion to bring out first. I didn't know whether to be hurt, upset, angry, mad. It was a whole bunch of feelings," Kirkland said. "I came right back to the school the same day, spoke with the counselor, the teacher, separately. I spoke with the teacher first, and the teacher was not willing to accept the wrongness. She wasn't willing to accept the insensitive of the situation. She just wasn't accepting his feelings and how he was hurt. She just wanted me to know they were having a whole lot of fun."
Kirkland said the substitute teacher told her that game was on a list of acceptable games to play handed down by the school district.
Rousey said he faced immediate backlash from the substitute teacher after his mother talked with her.
"She shut the door and she started, I would say, attacking me, saying, 'Am I a racist?'" Rousey said.
Kirkland continued: "She asked him in front of the class, 'Sidney, am I a racist?'"
She then talked with Gunston leaders. She said they were appalled by this incident, and told her they are investigating it.............
Sidney Rousey is a Gunston Middle School 8th grade student, and said this happened last Wednesday. At that point, he felt pressured by his peers and the substitute teacher.
Rousey said he is the only Black student in that class.
His mother, Keisha Kirkland, said she immediately went to the school looking for an explanation. The two of them spoke only to 7News.
"I didn't know what emotion to bring out first. I didn't know whether to be hurt, upset, angry, mad. It was a whole bunch of feelings," Kirkland said. "I came right back to the school the same day, spoke with the counselor, the teacher, separately. I spoke with the teacher first, and the teacher was not willing to accept the wrongness. She wasn't willing to accept the insensitive of the situation. She just wasn't accepting his feelings and how he was hurt. She just wanted me to know they were having a whole lot of fun."
Kirkland said the substitute teacher told her that game was on a list of acceptable games to play handed down by the school district.
Rousey said he faced immediate backlash from the substitute teacher after his mother talked with her.
"She shut the door and she started, I would say, attacking me, saying, 'Am I a racist?'" Rousey said.
Kirkland continued: "She asked him in front of the class, 'Sidney, am I a racist?'"
She then talked with Gunston leaders. She said they were appalled by this incident, and told her they are investigating it.............
Mr. Sparkle
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So basically like an Easter egg race but with cotton balls. Seems like a lot of room for this to be a gross misunderstanding rather than "teacher bullies black student into picking cotton!"
She should've gone with Q_tips or something.
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I believe it originated in Slavic cultures, originally being witches who ate children to stay young.
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Context matters.
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To be clear it was added for the food reference since I am reading the Black Smoke book.
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I'm running out of sighs
===================
A California school district is scrambling during Black History Month after elementary students drew racist cards for their Black classmates, leaving many in the community questioning the district’s culture.
“These cards were passed out to the Black kids at my grandchildren's school…Pepper Tree Elementary, for Black History Month,” Earlie Douglas posted on Facebook on Feb. 17. “My grand daughter was told that they were making her one for her that says ‘you are my favorite slave’ and they were drawing a picture of a slave hanging from a tree.”
Along with the post, Douglas attached images of the alleged drawings. In one illustration, “To my favorite cotton picker” is written over a crayon-colored field of cotton on a sheet of paper folded in half.
“HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH,” reads the inside of the makeshift card. “The group will be nice to you all month,” it says with a smiley face. On the opposite page, a stick figure stands in a field with a sign that indicates there’s no more cotton picking.
In a second handmade card, there are two trees with what appears to be a noose hanging between them. Inside the card, a picture of a monkey is drawn that says, “Your [sic] my favorite monkey.”
The post immediately made traction online, garnering dozens of shares and a slew of comments.
“Comprehensive and appropriate grade level United States history should be taught from K-12 and beyond,” someone commented under Douglas’ post. “The parents, teacher and administration have dropped the ball. I am a Black woman raised in the then segregated south, this re-enforces my experiences.”
“As a fellow Pepper Tree parent, I'm appalled and disgusted by this and offer my sincerest apologies to your grandchildren and any other students that are having to go through this,” an Upland resident wrote.
According to local outlet KTLA, the mother of a sixth-grade student pulled her daughter from Pepper Tree after she felt the district wasn’t doing enough to address the issue.
Upland Unified School District, located just east of Los Angeles, released a video statement Friday apologizing for the drawings. However, the district did not provide any other information as to what prompted the drawings or information regarding students who were involved.
“Recent racially insensitive, unacceptable incidents have taken place in our schools,” district board president Truman Garnett said. ‘We deeply regret the hurt that this behavior has caused our students, families, and our community. …I want to make it perfectly clear that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy on any type of hate speech; harassment; discriminatory practices, behaviors; racial slurs; and any report of these actions will be investigated thoroughly and immediately.”............
===================
A California school district is scrambling during Black History Month after elementary students drew racist cards for their Black classmates, leaving many in the community questioning the district’s culture.
“These cards were passed out to the Black kids at my grandchildren's school…Pepper Tree Elementary, for Black History Month,” Earlie Douglas posted on Facebook on Feb. 17. “My grand daughter was told that they were making her one for her that says ‘you are my favorite slave’ and they were drawing a picture of a slave hanging from a tree.”
Along with the post, Douglas attached images of the alleged drawings. In one illustration, “To my favorite cotton picker” is written over a crayon-colored field of cotton on a sheet of paper folded in half.
“HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH,” reads the inside of the makeshift card. “The group will be nice to you all month,” it says with a smiley face. On the opposite page, a stick figure stands in a field with a sign that indicates there’s no more cotton picking.
In a second handmade card, there are two trees with what appears to be a noose hanging between them. Inside the card, a picture of a monkey is drawn that says, “Your [sic] my favorite monkey.”
The post immediately made traction online, garnering dozens of shares and a slew of comments.
“Comprehensive and appropriate grade level United States history should be taught from K-12 and beyond,” someone commented under Douglas’ post. “The parents, teacher and administration have dropped the ball. I am a Black woman raised in the then segregated south, this re-enforces my experiences.”
“As a fellow Pepper Tree parent, I'm appalled and disgusted by this and offer my sincerest apologies to your grandchildren and any other students that are having to go through this,” an Upland resident wrote.
According to local outlet KTLA, the mother of a sixth-grade student pulled her daughter from Pepper Tree after she felt the district wasn’t doing enough to address the issue.
Upland Unified School District, located just east of Los Angeles, released a video statement Friday apologizing for the drawings. However, the district did not provide any other information as to what prompted the drawings or information regarding students who were involved.
“Recent racially insensitive, unacceptable incidents have taken place in our schools,” district board president Truman Garnett said. ‘We deeply regret the hurt that this behavior has caused our students, families, and our community. …I want to make it perfectly clear that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy on any type of hate speech; harassment; discriminatory practices, behaviors; racial slurs; and any report of these actions will be investigated thoroughly and immediately.”............
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Holy sheet, how does stuff like this keep happening? Smh.
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And America was "shocked"
America leads the world in shocks
Unfortunately, America does not lead the world in deciphering the cause of shock
- Gil Scott Heron
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