HuckFinn wrote:Dude! I wasn't looking to upset you! Damn!
The link I posted was by a black man showing what he'd found. You might want to read it. There's a lot of myth regarding these statues....
Here's the link again;
https://ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/question/2008/july.htm
Bottom line, according to this guy anyway, is that black people are pretty offended by them.
No kidding, sorry if I upset you.
I understand it's a hand-me-down, nostalgic thing for you...
Ok, you seem to be, I believe the term you've used, is "cherry picking" the questions you answered.
You never answered the one about how African Americans feel about the novel you get your handle from.....so how do the African Americans that are offended by lawn jockeys feel about N*gger Jim?
1)The Pennsylvania State Conference of the NAACP has instructed its branches to file grievances with the state's human rights commission demanding that local school boards and district superintendents remove Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from mandatory reading lists.
The charge, supported by the national NAACP, is that "tax dollars should not be used to perpetuate a stereotype that has psychologically damaging effects on the self-esteem of African American children."
2) Over the years the novel has been declared "unfit for children" on a number of counts, but the indictment that has proven most persistent began in 1957, when the NAACP charged that Huck Finn contained "racial slurs" and "belittling racial designations." Since then, the book has been called "racist" for both the pervasive use of the word "****" and a portrayal of blacks that some people consider stereotypical and demeaning. It has been removed from reading lists in schools ranging from Texas to Pennsylvania (including, ironically, the Mark Twain Intermediate School in Fairfax, Virginia). Public libraries also continue to deal with requests that the book be removed, although the focus of the controversy has shifted to the classroom.
3)The local NAACP chapter published a statement, praising the decision to ban the books due to their “hurtful” nature.
Some people think the novels are educational literature for students, [chapter president Stephan Witherspoon] said, but the novels are “just hurtful” and use “hurtful language that has oppressed the people for over 200 years.” The district’s use of the books as required reading has been an ongoing discussion between elders in the local NAACP and district leaders for years, [he] said.
“It’s wrong. There are a lot more authors out there with better literature that can do the same thing that does not degrade our people. I’m glad that they’re making the decision and it’s long overdue, like 20 years overdue,” Witherspoon said. “Let’s move forward and work together to make school work for all of our kids, not just some, all of them.”
That's what I found about how the NAACP feels about it.....
I did go to your link, and the whole piece is that persons opinion and conjecture that African Americans are offended....he mentions the underground railroad story and dismisses it as
"in his opinion", not backed by facts, but conjecture.....he also states, Thus, there is no consensus on the jockey's origin, but
I do believe that there is a consensus view in African American communities that black lawn jockeys are demeaning relics of a racist past.
he also dismisses out of hand this statement in his commentary....
Despite this, the creation and acceptance of Jocko stories are ways for African Americans to say, "We were always brave, always worthy of inclusion, even admiration......again, It seems you are "cherry picking" your own points of reference
It also appears the author of your link is also "cherry picking" what he chooses to believe and disbelieve to further his position, and dismisses out of hand the items that do not further his agenda.....
Oh and for the record, I've read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a couple of times over the years and loved it.