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Condi Drops a Watermelon

BPSCG

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Bellevue Community College President Jean Floten apologized Wednesday at an emotional open-campus meeting called after students complained about what they said was a racially offensive math question used on a practice test.
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The question read, "Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second." The question went on to ask when the watermelon will hit the ground, based on a formula provided.
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Link
 
Like Asians being good at math, it's a relatively unharmful stereotype. Relatively. Black folks are supposed to like fried chicken and watermelon. Yawn.

This google image search may shed some light.
 
Yes, I was puzzling as to why any of those were racially offensive...

I guess you had to be there.
 
The question should have read:

"David Letterman drops a can of yellow paint off the roof of the ed sullivan theater building..."
 
Zep said:
Yes, I was puzzling as to why any of those were racially offensive...

I guess you had to be there.
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African-Americans in the U.S. have always been stereotyped as liking watermelon and fried chicken (among other things) and Hollywood didn't help matters much since Blacks were portrayed as feeble-minded, fried chicken eaters.

It's an American stereotype (which, no doubt, came from the racist south) that has lasted and it still used to portray African-Americans in a bad light. When you think about it, it's a portrayal of Black culture as a poor culture. Chickens were a fairly inexpensive form of meat to raise (beef being the "rich man's meat) and put on the table; watermelons are also fairly simple to raise and often provided a cool dessert after a summer meal. They were/are considered "poor people food" and many African-Americans still take offense at any suggestion that "all Black people like fried chicken or watermelon."

It's somewhat similar to calling Latinos "beaners" or Frenchmen "frogs." There are racist overtones that might not be immediately evident.
 
Thanks for that - I am beginning to understand.

It's a bit like saying all Aussies go around wearing cork-bedecked hats, throwing shrimp on barbies, and shouting Crikey! ;)
 
Surely, after the "spaz" thread, nobody here is suggested getting all "Politically Correct" for Condi's sake.
 
The question read, "Condoleezza holds a watermelon just over the edge of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second." The question went on to ask when the watermelon will hit the ground, based on a formula provided.
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I now have this image in my head of Condi tossing up (her lunch). I don't think I'll be eating for awhile.
 
Zep said:
It's a bit like saying all Aussies go around wearing cork-bedecked hats, throwing shrimp on barbies, and shouting Crikey! ;)
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No, we know you're not really like that:
AUSTRALIANS
Racial Characteristics:
Violently loud alcoholic roughnecks whose idea of fun is to throw up on your car. The national sport is breaking furniture and the average daily consumption of beer in Sydney is ten and three quarters Imperial gallons for children under the age of nine. "Making a Shambles" is required study in the primary schools and all Australians are bilingual, speaking both English and Sheep. Possibly as a result of their country's being upside down, the local dialect has over 400 terms for vomit. These include "technicolor yawn" "talking to the toilet," "round-trip meal ticket," and "singing lunch." It is illegal to employ the aboriginal inhabitants as anything but toilets, and some of the peculiar forms of native wildlife have up to nine arseholes. The recent destruction of Darwin by a hurricane was actually a cover story for the regrettable coincidence of paydays on three separate sheep stations.
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From P.J. O'Rourke's classic, Foreigners Around the World

And we also know y'all are particularly fond of sticking your thumb up a crocodile's bumhole. Crikey!
 
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maybe it should have read: "Condoleezza holds a spurious intelligence report claiming that Iraq has hidden weapons of mass distruction just over the edge of the roof of the 300-foot Federal Building, and tosses it up with a velocity of 20 feet per second."
 
Anti_Hypeman said:
Any mention of any race is offensive now.
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Given the discussion of race in many circles, both liberal and conservative, I'd say that is demonstrably false. People talk about race all the time without getting offended.

Racial stereotypes, however, are offensive. There is a difference.

Full disclosure: I am a liberal, and I don't think Condoleeza Rice is a very good Sec of State. But I don't think she deserves to be ridiculed because of her skin color. It's not about being "Politically Correct", it's about respecting somebody for the person they are, not the stereotype that some people think they represent.
 
At my gas station, we're now selling watermelon-flavored blunts. I've tried putting up various signs to boost sales, including "Watermelon Blunts: Live Dat Stereotype, Dawg!" and "Free Fried Chicken Wit A Dozen Blunts, Yo!" As my clientele consists pretty much exclusively of suburban white teenage gangsta wanna-be's white trash, they've failed to comprehend the humor.
 
b33fj3rky said:
At my gas station, we're now selling watermelon-flavored blunts. I've tried putting up various signs to boost sales, including "Watermelon Blunts: Live Dat Stereotype, Dawg!" and "Free Fried Chicken Wit A Dozen Blunts, Yo!" As my clientele consists pretty much exclusively of suburban white teenage gangsta wanna-be's white trash, they've failed to comprehend the humor.
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Let us know when some Nation of Islam-type guy comes in looking for directions and spots your display.

Wheee! :j1:

And welcome to the forum!
 
Mephisto said:
African-Americans in the U.S. have always been stereotyped as liking watermelon and fried chicken (among other things) and Hollywood didn't help matters much since Blacks were portrayed as feeble-minded, fried chicken eaters.

It's an American stereotype (which, no doubt, came from the racist south) that has lasted and it still used to portray African-Americans in a bad light. When you think about it, it's a portrayal of Black culture as a poor culture. Chickens were a fairly inexpensive form of meat to raise (beef being the "rich man's meat) and put on the table; watermelons are also fairly simple to raise and often provided a cool dessert after a summer meal. They were/are considered "poor people food" and many African-Americans still take offense at any suggestion that "all Black people like fried chicken or watermelon."

It's somewhat similar to calling Latinos "beaners" or Frenchmen "frogs." There are racist overtones that might not be immediately evident.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but when I grew up, chicken was a Sunday treat. Once in a while, thank you very much.

Sure, today, chicken is every day's food. But not a mere 20-30 years ago.

And I'm "white". Or, rather, "dough-colored". "Pig-colored" if you like. "Skin Cancer Prone", even.

Water melon? Can only be consumed in two ways: Outside, or in the bath tub. Where's the "black" connection? "Whites" never ate water melon?

This is so stupid.
 
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