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You are here: Home / What Were They Thinking?

What Were They Thinking?

by John Cole|  July 27, 200511:08 am| 15 Comments

This post is in: General Stupidity, Outrage

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Via Drudge, this doozy:

Miami city leaders are apologizing for a news release that invited summer campers to a ”Ghetto Style Talent Show” and ”Watermelon Eating Contest.”

The release said that children participating in the summer camp who “know the meaning of ghetto style” would have a chance to “prove just how ghetto they are.”

Members of the black community expressed outrage at the wording of the invitation to the talent show. The show will be part of the grand finale picnic for the city’s summer camp program to be held Friday at Hadley Park.

After being criticized by residents of the nearby Model City neighborhood and community leaders, Miami Parks Director Ernest Burkeen, who is black, released a formal apology and announced the renaming of the talent show.

The show will now be called the “Funky Talent Show,” according to Burkeen’s written statement. The watermelon contest will still be part of the event.

Even though the name has been changed, Burkeen did still continue to defend the choice of the name for the show.

“The word ‘ghetto’ was used to imply a down home show, not something offensive, but embracing the culture of today’s youth and their language,” he said.

Priceless. When people get pissed- change the name, but keep the ‘watermelon eating contest.”

Personally, I would pack up an move, because I would not want to live in a city where NOT ONE PERSON THOUGHT THIS WAS A BAD IDEA DURING THE PLANNING STAGES. I don’t think it takes a PhD. in cultural sensitivity to recognize that this might, just possibly, be perceived as offensive.

Good Grief.

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Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    Tim F

    July 27, 2005 at 11:11 am

    There’s a reason why Carl Hiiasen will never leave Miami. Local Florida politics makes state government look like FDR.

  2. 2.

    Steve

    July 27, 2005 at 11:14 am

    When I was in college, I remember the dorms serving a “special dinner” for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday that prominently featured fried chicken and watermelon. Again, it simply never occurred to anyone that this might not go over so well. When someone finally asked the question, the response was, “We were trying to do something with a Southern theme.” Okay.

  3. 3.

    Birkel

    July 27, 2005 at 11:26 am

    Mayor Alvarez should roundly be criticized for his demeaning view of minorities.

    /irony

  4. 4.

    Jim Allen

    July 27, 2005 at 11:52 am

    Oh, there you go, you Politically Correct Pinko Liberals are all alike! All touchy-feely and everything!

    Oops, sorry, I’ve been cruising right-wing blogs this morning. I was gone for a minute, there, but I’m back now…..

  5. 5.

    demimondian

    July 27, 2005 at 12:06 pm

    What were they thinking? C’mon, John, you know the answer!

    They weren’t.

  6. 6.

    Stormy70

    July 27, 2005 at 12:16 pm

    Miami Parks Director Ernest Burkeen, who is black, released a formal apology and announced the renaming of the talent show.

    Ghetto fabulous, it’s not for talent shows anymore! The new name is just as stupid: won’t you take me to funky town, or should it be phunky town now? Never underestimate the stupidity of city government officials.

  7. 7.

    jg

    July 27, 2005 at 1:36 pm

    won’t you take me to funky town

    Thanks Stormy. Now I’ll have that song in my head all day.

  8. 8.

    Jim Treacher

    July 27, 2005 at 1:41 pm

    The solution is clear: Ban watermelon!

  9. 9.

    Al Maviva

    July 27, 2005 at 3:25 pm

    This is the kind of thing that could only happen in Bush’s Amerikkka. It all stems from his decision to go to war in Iraq.

  10. 10.

    Defense Guy

    July 27, 2005 at 3:45 pm

    The planners were clearly using an older version of the PC handbook. The currently accepted terminology is gangster as is clearly repeated on the youth talking points channels. Talk about your rookie mistake.

  11. 11.

    Mike

    July 27, 2005 at 5:19 pm

    BAH!
    I grew up picking, eating and helping my uncle sell watermelons out of the back of a truck. I could kick all their asses in a watermelon eating contest hands down. Where do I sign up?

  12. 12.

    Tulie

    July 27, 2005 at 8:15 pm

    Yum, watermelon. Watermelon soaked in vodka.

  13. 13.

    T-Steel

    July 27, 2005 at 9:54 pm

    Mike: Anyday pal! I bet I’ll whip ya in some watermelon eatin’ and I’ll even eat the rind!

    Tulie: YES!

    As a proud Negro in America (yep, I love the word Negro), I am offended that I wasn’t invited to plan the Ghetto Style Talent Show. Cause true ‘hoodology requires ghetto to be spelled j-h-e-t-t-o. That’s high-falutin’ talk!

  14. 14.

    Mike

    July 27, 2005 at 10:48 pm

    “T-Steel Says:

    Mike: Anyday pal! I bet I’ll whip ya in some watermelon eatin’ and I’ll even eat the rind!”

    You got it. :)
    Did you ever have Watermelon Rind fights when you were a kid? My cousin and I were brutal to each other with those things. They Hurt! :))

  15. 15.

    Rah

    July 28, 2005 at 12:22 pm

    If somebody wants to ban the watermelon-eating because it’s “racist”, I say fuck ’em. African-Americans who eat watermelon aren’t proving some racial stereotype: it’s MIAMI for fucksake, it’s summer, it’s hot and it’s humid and that’s what watermelon is FOR.

    “Ghetto style” I can’t speak to. But isn’t the city of Miami itself overwhelmingly African-American, demographically? Do the citizens have some responsibility to make themselves crazy trying to preclude anybody anywhere from thinking a racist thought? If so, that’s kinda sad.

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