Pinata maker apologizes after facing backlash from community for hanging black dolls on his porch

[Demovictory9]

Candace Thurman, who drove by the house said she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“I was a little upset about it,” Thurman said,” I just thought it was really inappropriate. It just brought back memories from slavery.”

However, even though photos appear to be racist, they come from a piñata maker. Victor Chavarria, runs a small piñata business out of his home. He said the piñatas were for a wedding.

After seeing the anger his photo caused he quickly apologized for his mistake.

“I deeply apologize. Effectively immediately, I changed my processes. I wouldn’t do anything to offend anybody, they gave me my feedback and of course, I listen,” Chavarria said. “I’m here to serve the community, not the opposite, and I am deeply sorry.”

Chavarria continued: “They have a point, perception is reality for people and I have to be very careful and sensitive to my community, and I deeply apologize to anybody who got offended. My processes changed immediately, and I won’t dry piñatas on my porch anymore.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/pinata-maker-apologizes-facing-backlash-community-hanging-black-dolls-porch/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Here is additional info

A Minnesota piñata maker says he is sorry for hanging black figures from his porch

By Doug Criss, CNN

Updated 1:17 PM ET, Tue May 8, 2018



(CNN) A Minneapolis piñata maker is apologizing for hanging pieces of his work -- piñatas which look like black people -- from the front porch of his house. The episode caused an uproar in his mostly African-American neighborhood after passersby mistook the piñatas, which he says he hung up to dry, for a racist display.

It all started when Victor Chavarria, owner of Happy Kids piñatas, was filling an order for a wedding. The customer had requested racially diverse piñatas that looked like members of their wedding party. So Chavarria got up at 4 a.m. Friday to create the papier-mache piñatas, then hung them on the front porch of his home in northern Minneapolis to dry.

Someone driving by his house that morning snapped a photo of the piñatas and put it on Twitter. The social post soon brought a stream of threats to Chavarria, and even his wife and two toddlers. He immediately took the piñatas down and called the police because of the threats and all of the people driving by his home.

Chavarria, a Mexican immigrant, said he considered going back to Mexico to get away from the uproar, which continued through the weekend. But after talking with his friends and neighbors, including a few African-American pastors, he decided to stay in the neighborhood where he's lived for three years and explain that it was all a misunderstanding. "There's no hate in this home. I don't know how else to deliver this message," Chavarria told CNN. "I'm very, very sorry for my lack of judgment and lack of sensitivity."Chavarria said he understands now, after looking at the picture, how the scene must have looked to his neighbors. "Out of context, I admit the images look disturbing," he said. "Out of context everything can be horrible."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/us/minnesota-pinata-hanging-trnd/index.html

He seems to be a good artist and based on the CNN pic, the bride and groom were apparently black and commissioned the pinatas. But this is an example of cultural misunderstanding that even many people in the U.S. who travel to other countries, are guilty of as well when one doesn't generally research where you are going. Thing is, when it comes to American history, the history of African Americans within that has been distilled down to generic "slavery" and generic "Martin Luther King" and that's about it, and that is what gets trickled out to the rest of the world.

[Demovictory9]

2. Thanks for the additional info. Off topic... weird to make pinatas that look like people.

pinatas get beaten and ripped apart

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Yeah I know

unless they were planning to use them just for decoration.

But we have seen these posted about on DU -



https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/donald-trump-pinata-mexico/