adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:08 PM
Original message
Would you say anything to people who have a black jockey outside?
I drive by this house every day going and coming home from work. It is on a main street, and they always have a huge Christmas display. For the last 6 months or so, they have had one of the black jockey statues right out front. This is not a historic one. This is a new one. In upstate NY, you can still get them in garden centers; they hide them in the back. I understand that this statue symbolizes the slave who waited outside for his "Master" to come home late at night, and I think it is racist and inappropriate. I wonder if I should say anything?? Some people say to paint it, I would never do that to someone's property, even if I disagree. Others say to hang a sign around its neck, saying something like, "The people who live here are racist." Or should I put a letter in their mailbox? Or just continue to ignore it. It really does bother me, and I can't believe people put stuff like that up in the year 2011. BTW, we are in a lily white, rural, economically uneven area. Any ideas greatly appreciated.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1258910How about, minding your own damn business?
Last I checked we still had freedom of speech and some private property rights.
I also wonder if this is bullshit, since I haven't seen those statues since I was a kid.
PCIntern Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:10 PM
Response to Original message
2. when I was a student in Rochester, NY, Updated at 7:00 PM
we were told not to drive our cars with hippie hair in the rural areas, b/c the Klan was mighty strong up there...we had some weird moments even in the suburbs which led me to believe that I was in school in Alabama or Misssissippi.
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adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #2
12. I lived in Orange County, NY, 1 1/2 hours north of Manhattan
and the head of the northeast branch of the KKK openly lived in our town. They had a march in NYC, and were allowed to have it even though groups sued to try to stop them, and the anti-Klan in NYC outnumbered the Klan about 100 to 1!! But I don't live in NYC now!
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B-Stupid (13 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:36 PM
Response to Reply #2
38. That's complete bullshit
There was never Klan in Rochester NY. Please tell me you didn't attend U of R.
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adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 09:01 PM
Response to Reply #38
52. There are Klans and Klan members all over NY
It is NOT bull.
I thought only the south had any racists.

adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:23 PM
Response to Reply #23
25. Well, I won't destroy anyone's property
Maybe take a picture, send it to the local paper.
Who knows that could get Wiener off the front page.
Liquorice Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:16 PM
Response to Original message
15. They are not necessarily a sign of racism. There are historians who say
they represent an African-American hero who helped George Washington and also that they were a symbol relating to the underground railroad.
"According to the River Road African American Museum the figure originated in commemoration of heroic dedication to duty: "It is said that the 'lawn jockey' actually has its roots in the tale of one Jocko Graves, an African-American youth who served with General George Washington at the time that he crossed the Delaware to carry out his surprise attack on British forces at Trenton, NJ. The General thought him too young to take along on such a dangerous attack, so left him on the Pennsylvania side to tend to the horses and to keep a light on the bank for their return. So the story goes, the boy, faithful to his post and his orders, froze to death on the river bank during the night, the lantern still in his hand. The General was so much moved by the boy's devotion to his duty that he had a statue sculpted and cast of him, holding the lantern, and had it installed at his Mount Vernon estate. He called the sculpture 'The Faithful Groomsman'." ...
Charles Blockson, curator of the Afro-American Collection at Temple University in Philadelphia, claims that the figures were used in the days of the Underground Railroad to guide escaping slaves to freedom: "Green ribbons were tied to the arms of the statue to indicate safety; red ribbons meant to keep going ... People who don’t know the history of the jockey have feelings of humiliation and anger when they see the statue..." <2> Blockson has installed an example of the statue at the entrance to the University's Sullivan Hall."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_jockey
Sounds like something Sarah Palin would make up.

Joe the Revelator (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 09:02 PM
Response to Reply #20
53. Why would you assume to be smarter then those people?
Because that is what DUmmies do.
ProfessorGAC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 08:42 PM
Response to Original message
42. I Have Done It
Four times. Different people. I don't wait for an explanation or excuses, or an argument.
I just tell them what a tool they are, explain why, and then drive on.
There's also a scumbag about 8 miles south of my small town that flies a confed flag with a fire in the middle.
I've stopped to tell him what for, about 3 times. Now, i slow down when i see he's out there and just flip him off once i know he recognizes it's me.
GAC
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adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 09:02 PM
Response to Reply #42
54. LOL!! You have more courage than I do!!! n/t
Yeah real courage there.

ergot (126 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 09:01 PM
Response to Reply #45
50. Some people can find 'racism' on an olive can label...
:eyes:
They all post at DU.
adigal (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed Jun-08-11 09:04 PM
Response to Reply #46
56. This family isn't black, and they probably don't know
about the good or the bad stories. I am obviously making an assumption here, but I live in a pretty backward racist area.
The neighbors must have had repuke yard signs or something.