Condoleezza holds a watermelon...

[ripdog]

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. How many seconds before it hits the ground?

[ripdog]

Bellevue Community College practice exam question (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002927599_bcc13e.html)

[New001]

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Bellevue Community College practice exam question (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002927599_bcc13e.html)

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Hah, I was there earlier today.

Why is this such a big deal? Blah blah, blacks and watermelon, but just because a stupid stereotype exists (whether or not it's accurate) means the two being associated in any way is racism? Can someone better justify this for me?

Would it be just as bad if it was Colin instead of Condoleeza? Or Jesse? Or George?

[AceofSpades]

I don't get it. How is that question associated with racism in any way?

[ripdog]

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I don't get it. How is that question associated with racism in any way?

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Take a bus down to the "black" neighborhood in the major city nearest to you. Ask a group of black males if they could point you to the nearest watermelon stand. Stand there and take your beating like a man. You would have to be a total ignoramous to "not get it".

[SomethingClever]

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I don't get it. How is that question associated with racism in any way?

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Take a bus down to the "black" neighborhood in the major city nearest to you. Ask a group of black males if they could point you to the nearest watermelon stand. Stand there and take your beating like a man. You would have to be a total ignoramous to "not get it".

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Can someone provide the backstory to this stereotype and why it's offensive? I'm being serious.

Is it some slavery thing that I have forgotten about from history class 15 years ago?

[ripdog]

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Bellevue Community College practice exam question (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002927599_bcc13e.html)

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Hah, I was there earlier today.

Why is this such a big deal? Blah blah, blacks and watermelon, but just because a stupid stereotype exists (whether or not it's accurate) means the two being associated in any way is racism? Can someone better justify this for me?

Would it be just as bad if it was Colin instead of Condoleeza? Or Jesse? Or George?

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I thought it was hilarious and would have been hilarious even if they had just used a name like Jamal or Tyrone--maybe even better. I just watched 'Guess Who' last night--black girl brings white boy (Ashton Kutcher) home to meet Dad (Bernie Mac). Mildly funny, not worth the cost of a rental. Ask a black person what they think of being called "watermelon". The person that put that on a widely distributed practice exam should be reprimanded at the very least. The whole thing cracks me up--not as funny as Wal-Mart's "if you liked 'Roots', you might like 'Planet of the Apes'" [censored] up, but pretty humorous nonetheless.

[ripdog]

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I don't get it. How is that question associated with racism in any way?

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Take a bus down to the "black" neighborhood in the major city nearest to you. Ask a group of black males if they could point you to the nearest watermelon stand. Stand there and take your beating like a man. You would have to be a total ignoramous to "not get it".

[/ QUOTE ]

Can someone provide the backstory to this stereotype and why it's offensive? I'm being serious.

Is it some slavery thing that I have forgotten about from history class 15 years ago?

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I don't have time to delve into it now and provide a source. The term refers to black's historicaly eating a lot of watermelon. I think of little black lawn jockey's and statue's of black kids eating a huge slice of watermelon when I hear the term used that way. It is certainly a derogatory term and a white person calling a black person "watermelon" might as well just call them [censored]. I'm not black, but to me it's just a way to say [censored] without actually having to say [censored].

[guesswest]

I agree this question blatantly demonstrates racism and guy who wrote it is at the very least very insensitive.

But does anyone else think the reaction to this is totally out of line with the crime? That article makes it sound like two nations holding peace talks after a bloody war or something.

[DougShrapnel]

Isn't the association more about the federal building than with watermelon, there are a ton of "black" names that would make this a racist question.

[guesswest]

Well, you'd have to ask the guy to know for sure, but it seems pretty unlikely to me that the watermelon thing would be accidental - and you'd suspect he'd have said so if it was.

[ddubois]

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Can someone provide the backstory to this stereotype and why it's offensive? I'm being serious.

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Why are people offended by anything? If you are chinese, and I say you have "slanty eyes", you get offended. But the fact is, chinese do have eyes shaped differently from caucasians. So why be offended? The fact is, that anything that perpetuates a stereotype, warranted or not, will offend some people. There exists, and has existed for decades, a sterotype that black people like watermelon and fried chicken. So anytime you use those terms, depending on context, you risk offending some black people. A loaded is word is loaded almost because there is some vague consensus that it's loaded, not because it's logical. How anyone comes to that consensus, I have no idea.

IMO, the answer to all of this racial crap is miscegenation. I'm doing my part!

[DougShrapnel]

He said the the original question was Gallager. For you youngsters out there. Gallanger was a prop comic that smashed stuff on stage, watermelon was his "brand". Context is everything to meaning. There can be no mistake that "Condoleezza" means the Condoleezza Rice who works in the federal building. And does not mean random black person. I don't really know if Condie likes watermelon or not.

[Copernicus]

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I don't get it. How is that question associated with racism in any way?

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Take a bus down to the "black" neighborhood in the major city nearest to you. Ask a group of black males if they could point you to the nearest watermelon stand. Stand there and take your beating like a man. You would have to be a total ignoramous to "not get it".

[/ QUOTE ]

Can someone provide the backstory to this stereotype and why it's offensive? I'm being serious.

Is it some slavery thing that I have forgotten about from history class 15 years ago?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't have time to delve into it now and provide a source. The term refers to black's historicaly eating a lot of watermelon. I think of little black lawn jockey's and statue's of black kids eating a huge slice of watermelon when I hear the term used that way. It is certainly a derogatory term and a white person calling a black person "watermelon" might as well just call them [censored]. I'm not black, but to me it's just a way to say [censored] without actually having to say [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

I can't wait till my Fro is full-grown
I'll just throw 'way my Doo-Rag at home
I'll take a drive to BEVERLY HILLS
Just before dawn
An' knock the little jockeys
Off the rich people's lawn
An' before they get up
I'll be gone, I'll be gone
Before they get up
I'll be knocking the jockeys off the lawn
Down in the dew

FZ (RIP)


Watermelon stereotype (http://poynteronline.org/column.asp?id=58&aid=42722)

[guesswest]

Ahhhhh, I missed that. Still, you'd think he'd have noticed, especially working in a community college - but who knows, perhaps he didn't.

If it was deliberate he does deserve some kind of reprimand - but the sh*tstorm that did occur seems wildly disproportionate to me.

[ripdog]

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He said the the original question was Gallager. For you youngsters out there. Gallanger was a prop comic that smashed stuff on stage, watermelon was his "brand". Context is everything to meaning. There can be no mistake that "Condoleezza" means the Condoleezza Rice who works in the federal building. And does not mean random black person. I don't really know if Condie likes watermelon or not.

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Yes, context is everything here. Sub Gallagher for Condoleezza and the shitstorm goes away. The person who changed the question was obviously taking a shot at Condoleeza Rice, I'm guessing for political reasons. This is not just some innocent mistake that ought to be swept under the rug--the person responsible for this slur knew the relationship between black and watermelon when they made the change. Condie is a watermelon in this question--don't matter if she likes it or not.

[DougShrapnel]

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Yes, context is everything here. Sub Gallagher for Condoleezza and the shitstorm goes away. The person who changed the question was obviously taking a shot at Condoleeza Rice, I'm guessing for political reasons. This is not just some innocent mistake that ought to be swept under the rug--the person responsible for this slur knew the relationship between black and watermelon when they made the change. Condie is a watermelon in this question--don't matter if she likes it or not.

[/ QUOTE ] Sub federal building for prison and we have an incident, other than that it is just baseless speculation, on what very likely could be a prof failing to keep up with the times. Kill the guy for not being hip, or cool, or hot, or whatever the kids these days say. Change question, apologize that some where offended, and that something that can be seen as racist was overlooked, end of discussion.

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the person responsible for this slur knew the relationship between black and watermelon when they made the change.

[/ QUOTE ] I doubt it, just trying to update his pop culture references.

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"How many Condoleezzas spell their name that way and how many Condoleezzas are associated with a federal building? It doesn't take much to connect the dotted lines,"

[/ QUOTE ] Yeah, that watermelom wasn't the reason why Condie was chosen, federal building was.

Maybe you are right, and this was an overt act of racism. But I don't think it is obviously so.

[Pauwl]

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[gumpzilla]

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Maybe you are right, and this was an overt act of racism. But I don't think it is obviously so.

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The racial angle was pretty much the first thing that popped into my mind when I read it. The problem is that Condoleezza is a very unusual name, one that is associated with a prominent black individual, and a watermelon is a rather strange thing to be dropping. It would be very difficult to convince me that this wasn't a crude and stupid joke.

[Tennenbaum]

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Actually it's 4.9845329132858672977698861704649, seconds, roughly.

[VarlosZ]

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The college declined to release the name of the teacher who wrote the question. Floten said the teacher has apologized and requested cultural-sensitivity training.

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Yeah, I'm sure the first thing that popped into the teacher's head when he got in trouble was, "Boy, I hope they let me go to cultural-sensitivity training."

Seriously, why even bother lying like that? If they don't want to come right out and say he's being forced to do it, they could just leave it vague and say that he "will be attending. . ."

[CORed]

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The college declined to release the name of the teacher who wrote the question. Floten said the teacher has apologized and requested cultural-sensitivity training.

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I think the teacher's name was Wogga.

[CORed]

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Actually it's 4.9845329132858672977698861704649, seconds, roughly.

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Is that compensated for aerodynamic drag, or assuming a vacuum?

[SomethingClever]

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The term refers to black's historicaly eating a lot of watermelon.

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White guy: Ha ha! You sure do like watermelon! Ha ha!
Black guy: WTF? I'LL KILL YOU BITCH!

Racism is weird.