Obama Delegate Resigns Over ‘Racist Comment’
I have been reading on several conservative blogs the past few months that this will be a troubling election for John McCain once Obama officially has the nomination. Their fears stem from the fact that it will be difficult to speak poorly about Obama without the media putting a racial spin on it. The problem lies in our nations growing intolerance toward any statements that can be even remotely related to racism. Take for example the recent controversy surrounding an Obama delegate who has been asked to step down:
Moving to nip in the bud some potential bad press, White House hopeful Barack Obama’s campaign persuaded a delegate to step down after she was ticketed for calling her neighbor’s African-American children “monkeys.”
Now on the surface, I can certainly understand why this would raise a red flag for the Obama campaign. Certainly calling African-American children “monkeys” could appear to be racially motivated, at least when taken out of context. Here is the context:
On Saturday, two neighbor children were playing in the tree next-door to her house.
Ramirez-Sliwinski “came outside and told the children to quit playing in the tree like monkeys. The tree was not on Ramirez-Sliwinski’s property,” Carpentersville Police Commander Michael Kilbourne said.
It is very apparent that when using the “monkey” analogy she was not referring to the skin color of the children, but to their actions, “playing in the tree like monkeys”.
“She [the children’s mother] felt it was racist because of the fact the children were African-American,” Carpentersville Police Commander Michael Kilbourne said.
Told of the incident Monday by the Sun-Times, Obama’s campaign called Ramirez-Sliwinski and persuaded her to step aside as a delegate because the campaign felt her remarks were “divisive and unacceptable.”
What should be looked upon as divisive and unacceptable is the continued likening of any statements toward an African-American as having racial undertones. When I was a child I was called a monkey by my mother while playing in a tree, and I would not be surprised if many people reading this have also used the same analogy towards their own children.
After reading this harmless statements being blown completely out of proportion (the woman was fined $75 for Pete’s sake), it makes me wonder if monkey bars were removed from most playgrounds because they were racially divisive, not because they were unsafe.
Update: Due to overwhelming positive feedback from people who felt this was entirely overblown (including yours truly), Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski has decided not to resign her position.
I am happy to see that her name was not slandered because of this non-incident, however it is somewhat frightening that Obama’s campaign asked her to resign her position because of it.
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She should not have guit, how sad this world is coming too. Quess I should quit my government job,too. Not only did I call my children monkeys, I now call my grandchildren monkey, and quess who taught them all to climb trees. Quess you also better go after the stores selling monkey p.j. (oh by the way I also bought them for my grandkid) or what about the monkeys jumping on the bed and one fell off and broke his head, better go after that person, for discrimination.
This is not about racism, it’s a comment thats been said for years.
It is apparent that this is a blatant case of race-baiting. It is also apparent that when speaking to some African Americans; particularly as a caucasion, one must choose words carefully, even simple words like monkey for the fear that they may be received out-of-context. And, this case is a perfect example. I fail to see the racial degradation intended except in the mind of the mother of the African American children, who clearly wanted to win the arguement and be divisive. As for Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski, the tree was not hers so she should have kept her business where it belonged. Away. Had she done that she would not have raised the hackles of her neighbors who were minding their own business with the children and simply having fun. Still, some folks can be hyper-sensitive and extremely insecure to comments about themselves and histrionics can be very powerful fodder to shift the cards in their favor. I suspect that was the case in this matter.
What that lady said to the kids was not “racist”. I am African, and have very active kids who like to play a lot, including climbing trees on my property. I use the same “stop playing like monkeys” in the trees to mean that they should get off the trees, and play on the ground where it is safer. Do I mean that my kids are monkeys when I use that expression? NO! It has nothing whatsoever to do with race!
How very sad that this has happened. My first thought was how I raised both of my daughters saying who are my little monkeys .. We are white. I also thought of the monkey bars in the parks. It appears the anger never stops and everyone walking on eggshells is obvious. Anger is the key word. I am Jewish. I have many German friends and know in my heart most likely someone in their family was a nazi .. it had nothing to do with who THEY are. The civil war continues but silently and once again, what the children learn at home is how they ‘think’ when they are adults .. that goes for all races and nationalities.
Perhaps “it takes a Village” other than Carpentersville.
I think what annoys me the most about all of this, other than the racially hyper-sensitive mother of the children and her subsequent histrionics is that the cops actually gave Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski a ticket, which implies fault or some form of behavior deemed disorderly when even the Carpentersville Chief agreed that the comment was not racially intended. Whats that all about? I betcha Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski ain’t voting Obama no more, and judging by these editorial comments a LOT of folks won’t be.
Apr 8th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
[…] anxious to see if Obama will reply to this comment by Rockefeller as quickly as he replied to the non-racist statement made by one of his delegates. Sphere: Related ContentIf you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS […]