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Give Me Strength…

Started by baratunde aka jack turner · 11 months ago

The above t-shirt is courtesy of this fool:
Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he’s peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with “Obama in ‘08″ scrolled underneath, are “cute.” But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes ... Continue reading »

16 comments

  • Victoria Marinelli

    1 year ago

    The obvious comeback for this post (speaking here as a feminist actively supporting Obama, see if you wish my HuffPo thing on QueenofSpain's borrowed login here), from among the Hillary Faithful will be the unfortunate linking of support for Obama with 'pimping.'


    (Note that after the Elliot Spitzer thing came out, I screamed on Twitter that if he'd been an Obama supporter rather than a Clinton supporter, people would have been all but accusing Obama of being an actual pimp, with all the racist stereotyping that infers.)



    I'm just sayin'.



    That said, I would like to kick whoever put this stupid ass T-shirt together in the nuts. Or ovaries if need be. Fuck.
    reply
  • Michelle

    1 year ago

    Racism: "If I can't see it (or claim I can't see it) it's your problem. Because I'm white and I said so that's why."


    Besides which, everyone knows that Marietta in Cobb County Georgia certainly doesn't have any racism!
    reply
  • robert

    1 year ago

    This is 2008, right?


    My friends, as John McCain likes to say, this is why I live in the north.
    reply
  • Ronnie B

    1 year ago

    It ain't just the South, unfortunately.


    Remember the phoney rape case that was brought against Kobe Bryant? Well the local Sheriffs in Colorado--the ones who initially arrested him--actually had "Hang Man" t-shirts made, depicting Kobe.



    The sad truth is, this is just the beginning. The ugliest and most vile people imagineable will be rearing their heads in the coming years.
    reply
  • Dave L

    1 year ago

    It's an infallible rule of thumb that the words "I'm not a racist, but" are always followed by racist comments.


    Robert, I live in the north (well, Pennsylvania) and I can assure you that it's not all that different. I canvassed for Obama in some poor white suburbs of Pittsburgh, and found plenty of people who were not shy about saying why there was no way in hell that they were voting for that [supply expletive].



    Of course, these same folks are the ones telling us that after Obama is elected, nobody will be allowed to mention racism in America, because the fact of a President Obama will prove that it doesn't exist. And West Virginia is just, you know, a hotbed of feminism.
    reply
  • Anonymous

    1 year ago

    God Bless America.
    reply
  • Craig Hickman

    1 year ago

    The creator of the T-Shirt says things like he wishes she would have married OJ. I may not like her, but that's foul.


    This guy is a bigot through and through.



    He's voting for McCain in November IF he takes his stupid ass to the polls.
    reply
  • Not Just Your Average Womanist

    1 year ago

    Somebody wants some 15 minutes. I hope he doesn't do a serious.
    This is very clear racism. Don't even have to dig.
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  • Victoria Marinelli

    1 year ago

    Hey folks - Props to whoever changed the title of this post. Sincerely. And if you want to delete my comment above (and this one), that's fine with me. I don't leave blog comments just to get site traffic or to act all righteous and crap. You did the right thing.
    reply
  • Anonymous

    1 year ago

    Not that this would impact judgment of the monkey image as it relates to Obama, but I've been looking at George Bush = monkey images for years.
    reply
  • smoothie

    1 year ago

    To qoute a a wise man,
    "I cant define porn, but I know it when i see it.."



    I would ask the shirt maker, If there was a shadow of doubt in his mind, wouldnt he assume that black folk would obviously look at this shirt as racist?
    reply
  • Black American Princess

    1 year ago

    Cracka ass crackas. How's that for an intelligent response lol...
    reply
  • TruthSeeker

    1 year ago

    dnA,


    I am sure Houghton Mifflin will take action. They do not want a beloved children's character associated with a racist message...and certainly not a copyrighted one.
    reply
  • Ms.Martin

    1 year ago

    He is being protested - this won't last long:




    Cobb County Bar Protested For 'Racist' Obama T-Shirts



    POSTED: 3:38 pm EDT May 13, 2008

    UPDATED: 5:59 pm EDT May 13, 2008





    ATLANTA -- A Marietta tavern owner says the T-shirts he's selling that feature a cartoon chimp peeling a banana with the words "Obama '08" should not be causing any problems.



    "This is 2008. If this was 1940-something, maybe. I don't see the big deal, I really don't," Mulligan's owner Mike Norman told Channel 2.



    But many people do think it's a big deal. Critics say the shirts are an offensive stereotype from generations past.



    "GALEO condemns the t-shirt as racist and highly offensive. As a private business, Mulligan's is free to conduct business as it chooses. However, as a community, we must unite against such intolerance. The t-shirt being sold is highly offensive and should not be sold any further," said Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director for the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials in a statement.



    The Anti-Defamation League also condemned the T-shirt being sold, saying it's, "An outrageous slur against Barack Obama and all African Americans."



    "Mike Norman - the bar's owner - pretends he is shocked that people would be offended by the T-shirt," said Bill Nigut, ADL's Southeast Regional Director. "But he knows full well that the characterization of African Americans as monkeys is a highly offensive stereotype. Every time he sells one of the shirts he is happily sending a racist message out the door."



    Channel 2's Manuel Bojorquez asked Norman why he chose Curious George. "I thought, man, look at those ears and his hair line and that's what I saw. I didn't see anything offensive," Norman said. He said he was not a racist.



    Norman added the money from the sale of the shirts was being donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.



    "It's their right to protest my right to have that to say," Norman said. "I've had a lot of threatening calls. It's just a lot of stupidity."







    Now if he weren't racist, he would donate the money to Obama's campaign.
    reply
  • Ronnie B

    1 year ago

    The publisher of Curious George is contemplating legal action against the bar owner for illegally selling the t-shirts.


    Poetic justice?
    reply
  • rikyrah

    1 year ago

    ronnie b,


    just came to post this
    reply
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