Newsletter depicts Obama with watermelon, ribs - AP

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

Another brilliant move by the upholders of "The American Way".

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_10735852?source=rss

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—A San Bernardino County Republican group has distributed a newsletter picturing Barack Obama on a phony $10 bill adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken.

The illustration appears in the October newsletter of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated.

It has been denounced by various GOP officials.

Diane Fedele, the group's president, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise in Thursday's edition the move had no racist intent.

She says she plans to send an apology letter to her members and apologize at the club's meeting next week.

Fedele says she had received the illustration in e-mails and decided to reprint it to poke fun at a previous remark by Obama that he doesn't look like other presidents.

Also, here for a fuller story.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_webbuck1.e7982b.html

[Alter Ego]

1. I wait with bated breath for John McCain to denounce this.

Oh, wait...I forgot about IOKIYAR!

[Solly Mack]

2. "had no racist intent"

That's always their excuse

[nichomachus]

15. That's not an excuse -- it's a lie

[Solly Mack]

39. True...it is a lie

but that is what they use as an excuse..and excuses can be lies

[Miss Chybil]

3. No racist intent...

Whatever.

[rebel with a cause]

22. I'm sure it has no racist intent.

because when my children were younger and I was still married to my then husband, we went to the beach one day where a bunch of low lifes yelled at us to go home and get us some fried chicken and watermelon as they laughed hysterically. I understood that day that they were just showing concern for us and had no racist intent at all. Yeah right.

[Miss Chybil]

44. It's just food, right?

I don't know why you would get so upset.

/sarcasm

[wtmusic]

4. They are getting hammered on their website

Dear Ms. Fedele,
Do you really think it's okay to dehumanize your opponent? Do you really think it's okay to incite others to violence? Did you not think that the mud you threw at Obama would not immediately bounce back on you? Have you no shame? Really? Do you need a quick lesson in American history?
Here's one for you
http://www.culturekitchen.com/lorraine/blog/ashes_to_ashes

You make me ashamed to share a nation with you.
The whole world is watching.
Shame shame shame on you.
Lorraine Berry
October 16, 2008 4:54 AM
Martha said:

Your newsletter commentary on Barack Obama is obscene, indecent and false. How dare you descend to such a level in this all-important election! It’s time for Republican women like you and your group to accept the fact that you have blindly supported a corrupt, misguided administration and that the people of America are fed up with it.

You should be ashamed of your behavior and recognize that you have only furthered the cause of defeat for your party and it’s candidates. It’s behavior like yours, which has pushed me into being a supporter for Obama, and the change he hopefully will bring.

When you finally get out of the mud and clean yourself up, do a little thinking about the damage you have done to yourself, the country and the people of American. You have displayed our political system at it’s very worst.

http://www.redcounty.com/sanbernardino/2007/12/chaffey-community-republican-w/

[buff2]

5. I'm white

and I LOVE watermelon,ribs and fried chicken and even collard greens. So what the fuck is their point? Geesus,I can't believe the stupid people in this country that have the balls to call themselves Americans.

[notalemming]

7. Amen. Those are some of my very favorite foods!

yikes

[Hekate]

24. The "watermelon, fried chicken" thing is part of a cluster of racist stereotypes from blackface...

... minstrel shows and ugly cartoons of the post-slavery Jim Crow era. It would go along with blackface, big ol' lips, big eyes ringed in startled white, "Feet don't fail me now!", cowardly, shucking and jiving, ignorant, stupid, lazy, shiftless, eating watermelon (rural South) and spitting out the seeds -- I could go on, but you get the picture. White people of a certain ilk used to think this kind of stuff was really funny.

It's been a long time since cartoons like that were even remotely socially acceptable, but they used to appear in respectable newspapers.

The "code" has been pared down. "Food stamps" equals lazy and shiftless. "Watermelon, ribs, and fried chicken" refers back to the complete stereotype.

The idiot woman who published this may not be fully conscious of the entire Jim Crow stereotype, but she knows it well enough to use it for "humor" -- and then is shocked when her own friends take deep offense.

Hekate

[rebel with a cause]

28. I'm also white and love ribs, fried chicken and watermelon,

but these are foods that are racially linked to African Americans. I have known people who would not eat these foods because they did not want white people seeing them eat it and be able to think this about them, or call them names for doing so. As I said in another post, my then husband, my two children and I were bombarded with shouts referring to this food one day. The funny thing was that my then husband was Dominican and these were my foods not his, but that did not keep it from hurting my children and letting them know that other people (whites) saw them as different and less than what they were.

[AlCzervik]

6. She needs to apologize to Barack Obama, i doubt "Her club" was offended.

[mikeytherat]

8. At least one member was not only offended, she feels betrayed:

Sheila Raines, an African-American member of the club, was the first person to complain to Fedele about the newsletter. Raines, of San Bernardino, said she has worked hard to try to convince other minorities to join the Republican Party and now she feels betrayed.

"This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party," she said. "I'm really hurt. I cried for 45 minutes."

mikey_the_rat

[AlCzervik]

10. some good comments on their site, people are pissed-

http://www.redcounty.com/sanbernardino/2007/12/chaffey-community-republican-w/

[EFerrari]

11. That link is O.D. Or, maybe the site is?

[AlCzervik]

12. it worked just a minute ago, looks like it crashed or they shut it down.

[wtmusic]

13. They pulled the site. nt

[EFerrari]

14. Good. Thanks. n/t

[wilt the stilt]

17. Sheila -, they don't really like you

[Fuzz]

9. One was.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g7w3PIVHs0pgr7MaboztFMupncHwD93RP68G0

[RedEarth]

16. here's a pic.....

This is in an official Republican Party flier:

The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps -- instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of "Obama Bucks" -- a phony $10 bill featuring Obama's face on a donkey's body, labeled "United States Food Stamps."

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/how-republicans.html

[Quantess]

23. "United States Food Stamps". The implications.....

BBQ ribs, fried chicken, watermelon... food stamps. Food stamps... for black people.

Watch out, Obama will give all your tax money to lazy n welfare queens!!!1!

[buff2]

32. I got food stamps years ago

They came in handy when I was raising my two kids alone.

[Quantess]

42. I was on food stamps when I had a broken arm.

I'm white, BTW.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

25. Nope. No racism there. Not a bit. No sireee.

Durn'd lefty, commie, pinko, food-stamp stealin', welfare shoppin', watermelon-eaten, parasites are just lookin' for racism where there ain't none.

[rebel with a cause]

30. How could she know that was racism.

It was so subtle. Not in your face at all. :puke:

Seeing this would almost incite me to go postal on the scum of the earth that produced it. If I was her, I would be watching my back because she deserves to be afraid. The racist pig.

[guitar man]

38. the idiot

forgot to put pig's feet and collard greens on there! :sarcasm:

you know, I just don't see how anybody could do this in the first place, then have the unbelieveable gall to cry "there was no racist intent" when called on it. the person that did this needs to spend the rest of their life cleaning crappers or something....it's beyond the pale. :grr:

[MonteLukast]

41. I'm more perturbed about the Kool-Aid, actually. (nm)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

18. Wow.......just wow.......

Amazing.

[RadicalTexan]

19. I just tried to email the Chaffey Community Republican Women and it bounced back undeliverable

Surprise.

I did email the San Bernardino County Republican Party:



I am NOT AMUSED by the Chaffey Community Republican Women's use of a racist flier. Not amused at all.

Your party is morally bankrupt. You are despicable and un-American.

RadicalTexan
Austin, Texas

[bigtree]

20. they're really comfortable with their racism out in the open

. . . and she claims she didn't think it was racist.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. As a Californian, let me apologize for the "Inland Empire" n/t

[lisamay]

43. As a resident of Rancho Cucamonga,

I also want to apologize. We're not all like that here- there are lots of Obama stickers here. Although I do feel like I live in red state hell sometimes...

[bullwinkle428]

26. She claims she's not a racist because she supported Alan Keyes!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[brettdale]

27. Anyone

Have their email address?

[Incitatus]

31. her email and a contact number

Chaffey Community Republican Women

Where: Magic Lamp Inn, 8189 Foothill Blvd. Rancho Cucamonga

When: Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6:00 PM

$25.00 . Special Guest Speaker: Evan Sayet, Star of the famous Laugh Factory featuring his Right To Laugh Tour. Evan was the Los Angeles Communications Director for President Bush during the 2004 re-election campaign where he offered weekly commentary on KMJ radio and wrote articles for major conservative outlets. Among the rave reviews he has received have come from Michael Medved, David Horowitz, Dennis Prager and Rush Limbaugh. Reservations are required: Contact Diane Fedele at [e-mail] or 909 981-0493

http://www.cagop.org/events/

[nichomachus]

37. What's the difference between the KKK and Republican women?

Lipstick

[StarryNite]

29. Unf*cking believable!

They make me sick!

[struggle4progress]

33. The Kool-Aid logo is on the bogus foodstamp/bill, too, if anyone wants to ask Kraft foods

why their trademark appears in connection with racist themes in the Chaffey Community Republican Women newsletter

I'd suggest telling Kraft foods you're completely appalled and never plan to buy any more Kraft products again: with any luck, they'll sue her

http://kraftfoods.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/kraftfoods.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/search/SearchResults.aspx?searchtext=kool-aid&u2=kool-aid&scope=all&start=1&rsort=

[nichomachus]

34. Here is contact information for the racists

http://www.sbgop.com/organizations.htm

From their website . . . .

Republican Women, Federated

Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated
P.O. Box 974
Upland, CA 91785
Diane Fedele (President) [e-mail]
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 7pm
Magic Lamp Inn, Rancho Cucamonga

[bamacrat]

35. Wait I love ribs fried chicken and watermelon..

He is the president for me. How could this not be meant as racist.

[SteveM]

36. Ah, the hep-cat allure of political incorrectness: any racist can get on stage (nt)

[Oeditpus Rex]

40. Video:

http://cbs2.com/kcal