It’s almost Halloween, and people are decorating their houses and yards. One person in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, put a display up that elicited this mild reaction.
Fort Campbell Public Affairs officer Brendalyn Carpenter said that it was "her understanding that the display was not intended to be offensive, but authorities deemed it could be interpreted as such. She said the occupant did extend an apology about the decorations."
Oh, not intended to be offensive, but could be interpreted, possibly uncharitably and unfairly, as such. Where have I heard that kind of notpology before? It seems to be a fairly common sentence construction in English.
Of course, then you see a photo of the display and wonder how anyone could possibly see it as inoffensive.
Yep, it wasn’t just Halloween blackface — this person put up a scene of a whole black family getting lynched in their front yard, complete with small child with a knife in the back.
Officials said the resident willingly removed the decorations after being informed of concerns raised by the community.
See? Perfectly reasonable!
Do I see correctly? It looks like there is a small figure, like a little child, hugging the hanging man’s legs.
Not intended to be offensive! Good, clean fun! It’s a joke, geddit?
And if you’re black and find it frightening… hey, but who told you you could open your mouth???
I can’t read the sign on the central dummy’s neck. Do I even want to know?
It’s not entirely clear from you summary, since “Fort” is often found in town names, especially in Kentucky, that this is actually at the military base Fort Campbell. That is, as far as I can tell from the other reports, on base housing at an American Army base. That person is carrying arms and fighting in our military, supposedly on our behalf. Maybe just taking down the display isn’t quite enough response?
@doubter: I can’t read it either.
“your summary” Damn it. How many other typos am I still missing? That one just made me feel incredibly stupid.
@doubter:
I can read the beginning: “Do not touch”. The rest is illegible – “Too hot”?
Maybe they didn’t intend to represent’ black people, they just didn’t know garbage bags also come in white?
Regarding the sign: All the photos appear to be the same one, sent by a reader to clarksvillenow.com, whose article says the sign was illegible in the original photo. I agree that the first part appears to be “Do not touch”.
Okay, I thought the Ebola-themed Halloween house decor was — at bare minimum — tasteless, but this one tops it.
I would have interpreted the garbage bags as being bags over the figures’ heads, as is commonly done in hangings.
Wasn’t there some mediocre horror movie recently (Sinister?) with pretty much exactly this tableau in it?
“… not intended to be offensive.”
http://genderbitch.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/intent-its-fucking-magic/
Some days, it’s like there just aren’t enough faces or palms.
@Zeppelin
I was thinking exactly of “Sinister” when I saw this. I don’t see blackface, I see a recreation of a horror movie scene.
If you’re gonna be THAT hateful, at least own it and have the balls to keep them up until Nov. 1, or until someone adjusts your attitude, whichever comes first.
Not intended to be offensive? May I hang Jesus Christ, please?
So we have two options: more familiar with obscure horror movies than with our nation’s recent history or just racists.
Mmmmmaybe …. you decide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ9G-gv74NE
Not intended to be offensive? What the hell were they thinking? “I’ll just create three black effigies and string them up on a tree, just like back in the old days when black people were lynched. Hurr. Hurr. Hurr.”
****
davidgentile @12:
Having the courage to do so (or the backbone) has nothing to do with gender (your comment about having the “balls” to do something).
For the people who see this as a horror movie recreation, I have a couple reactions.
(1) Looking at the photo, the bags appear to BE the heads, especially when you add in the child figure that’s NOT being hanged, but has a knife its back.
(2) In the clip from Sinister, the bags appear to be burlap sacks. If that’s what this was, then it wouldn’t have been much more effort to get sacks, or to have a mockup of the saw mechanism.
(3) This is in the South.
As is often mentioned here, context matters. I’m assuming the context here doesn’t need to be explained, but…
It’s just about possible that they didn’t see this as a black family being lynched – assuming the heads are trash bags, that might be the colour in the house and they didn’t think about it, but it would take a stunning level of obliviousness. It would be useful to know what the sign actually said
Maybe there is some movie with some people hanged and a child stabbed in the back, but probably extremely obscure
I guess I just associate black hoods with hangings. If I had to do a dummy of a hanged person, I’d definitely put a black bag on the head, if only because making an actual head would be much harder. I’m not American though, so my reaction is not representative presumably — it didn’t occur to me that the bags could represent anything else until I read PZ’s comment under the picture.
I mean, I’m fully prepared to believe that there are people in the US racist enough to put a dummy of a lynched black person in their front yard for halloween, but going by the evidence of just that picture I’d say this isn’t that. It’s still kind of a gross decoration either way.
It’s HALLOWEEN!!! Decorations are supposed to be horrific! These people think, “What is more horrific than a family getting hanged???” Clearly, not meant to be “offensive”, clearly intended to be “Horrific”.
Mission accomplished.
[in voice of Bill O’rly] PZ has started a WAR ON HALLOWEEN!!!
–
re @1:
Looks to me like a small dog.
Just becasue it’s not intended to offend or harm doesn’t mean it’s not racist. For what it’s worth, I have nor problem believing the claim that offense was unintentional: privilege often includes the privilege of being oblivious to privilege and historical-cultural context as it relates to others’ experiences. Since racism is a cultural norm, not being racist (especially for people who are privileged on the basis of race) requires an active, ongoing effort to notice racism and the contextual factors that play into it and then avoidance of behaviors that contribute to racist structures and norms. Ignorance of context relating to race is nearly always itself racist by default. This is why even real “colorblindness” with respect to race is functionally racist – it works to maintain a racist status quo instead of actively working to undermine it. You can’t stay still on a moving train.
So, even if those are supposed to be black hoods on White people (I don’t think they are – others have pointed out why), the display is still racist becasue its context means it will inevitably (and predictably, if one thinks through the context) be interpreted as a representation of a lynching. Because context mediates meaning, contextual awareness is an absolute necessity for ethical behavior.
Jesus Fucking Christ. That’s it. I’ve tried to be patient, but I’m done. I’m evolving my way out of this species, y’all take care!
*Attempts to evolve*
*Remembers evolution doesn’t work like Pokemon*
*weeps*
@Chengis Khan, The Cryofly #13:
Sacrilege! You may only depict our Lord and Savior on the correct execution device!
Christophe Thill @ 1
twas brillig @ 20
The small figure at the feet of the man looks like it’s supposed to be a child with a knife sticking out of its back to me. Black jeans, blue shirt. If it was supposed to be a dog, that’s…not a natural color scheme I’ve seen on a dog before.
But regardless, that non-hanging figure also has a black garbage bag for a head. So, no, the black was not meant to signify black hoods put on execution victims.
There’s a house a few blocks from me that has a similar display, and has for the last couple of Halloweens.
Given that they also put Tea Party signs on their lawn, I’m guessing that it really is supposed to represent a African American and not just someone with a bag over their head. And I think the one in the OP probably does as well- you’ve really got to be obtuse not to see it.
The right arm of the person with the sign looks like it’s black too.
joyfulatheist @22:
You must have done something wrong then. It worked for me (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start–works wonderfully).
@ Tony #16, point taken, although I meant it as gender neutral and “balls” is pithier than “spine”. I’d switch to “ovaries” to correct the gender imbalance, but that’s probably just as sexist.
Tony, help!! I can’t find my ‘B’ button…. :p
I really don’t think anyone is so astonishingly oblivious that they did not intend this to be a murdered black family (though I’m sure they’ll claim ignorance over racism when pushed on it). This is a grossly racist display, but even if the family wasn’t black or if the racial context and history could be completely removed, it’s still offensively graphic for a public halloween display. I don’t think many people would walk their small children up to trick or treat at a house with a depiction of a brutally murdered family (including dead children) on display in the front yard.
Oh, America, you realise that Halloween decorations are supposed to be fun-spooky, right? Not, “oh no, not the nightmares again”-spooky. Cartoony, plastic skeletons, not a real skeleton. Light up ghosts, not your pet dog flayed open on the porch. Representations of mythical monsters, not representations of real world monstrosities.
I mean, hey, as long as it’s not public property, they have every right to put up whatever the hell they want, but ffs, that’s just heinous, and I’m still gonna be revolted by it.
I can just imagine the conversations that kind of display would generate.
Kid: “What’s that?”
Parent: “Err… well, it’s a hanging.”
K: “What’s a hanging?”
P: “It’s… where you tie someone up by the neck and watch them suffocate”
K: “But that’s horrible! Good thing nobody’s done anything like that for hundreds of years!”
P: “….yeah….”
Toska@30: Especially in Kentucky…..
I’m not a racist! Stop playing the race card! Calling me a racist just shows you’re one yourself! I even have black friends!
And besides, anti-racist is code for anti-white.
Just in case anyone’s confused: /s.
Honestly, if you know anything about American history, especially southern history, any depiction of people being hung from a tree, unless a concerted effort is made to make them look white, is likely to be assumed to be racist. The person under the hood, if they’re hooded, is likely to be black, simply because most of the people actually hung from trees in America have been black, particularly in the last hundred years. It’s simply too horrifying a legacy not to be aware of and to blithely claim ignorance while creating a display that, to any reasonable person with a passing knowledge of the Jim Crow era, obviously conjures memories of lynching.
I honestly would avoid any houses like this. If, as gussnarp says, it is on a military base, the individual could come from somewhere like upstate New York that hasn’t really had many racist issues in recent memory. Even with that, though, they’d have to be pretty dull-witted to not see this as a bad thing. Not only the hanging is horrendous, but the black bags make it at least appear racist. If you want to do this properly you should at least use burlap sacks, as I’ve seen before.
My brother lives in Fort Campbell (he’s SOAR). From what I understand, the city IS the military base, essentially.
Admit it everyone – you’d love to see what these goobers put on their Christmas tree.
Why there’s room for all non-whites & non-Christians.
One might reasonably wonder just what it is that they do find offensive.
@35, methuseus:
Do make sure to pass that one along to the three guys I met wearing “SS Tour of Europe 1940-44” t-shirts in the gas station outside BNIA last year, or the various places – in BUFFALO NEW YORK – that fly the Stars and Bars, et c., et c.. I think if you asked the POC who live in upstate New York, they’d have strong opinions on the question of whether there are racist issues or not, and I’d bet many of those opinions would include variants of the word “fuck” in strategically emphatic places.
If i’m being unclear, I am taking issue with your characterization of anywhere as having ‘no racist issues’. The only places I ever heard of that don’t do racism are where they simply have never ever met people who aren’t of the locally dominant race. And frankly, I doubt that such exist in the modern world. We are all, ALL, swimming in a racist soup, and not seeing that doesn’t help anyone.
Oh, and display, in the context of KENTUCKY? Clearly intended to evoke lynching, which let us remember, is not reviled among certain parts of the peoples of certain parts of the US, but rather celebrated as “the good old days”. Very racist act, ‘intent’ notwithstanding.
What if those bodies were in white robes with white, pointed hoods and 3 red letters (all K’s) blazoned across their chests? Would we “humanists” also call “racism” for such a political statement, for depicting the punishment of those who most deserve it?
gotcha,
youus ebil humanistas!!I find it hard to believe this wasn’t intentionally racist.
Besides often being racist assholes, us white people have more subtle biases. Remember “skin colored” underwear or make-up which is always somehow rosey-beigy or however you would describe an average white person’s skin color. The same way, white authors often don’t think about including persons of color, but automatically write people who look like themselves. When I imagine a group of people, I imagine mostly white people (admittedly, not many non-white people live here). Etc.
So how come a white person putting effort into making dummies didn’t try to make them look more like themselves?
Put a paper bag over the inflated garbage bag, or used a white bag or something.
It’s almost necessary that the color was chosen deliberately.
Of course, even if the intention wasn’t racist, they would have to be completely oblivious fools not to notice how this looks, and then assholes to proceed anyway.
National pride isn’t generally my thing, but this post appeared right next to this one on my facebook feed. *waves little Canada flag*
cpps @43
Violence is never anything to be proud of. That the person resorted to violence is as deplorable as the racism and should be condemned as strongly. It doesn’t matter if the violence was in service of an ideal we may agree with, it was not instigated and should not be tolerated.
Bull-fucking-SHIT it wasn’t intended to be offensive or racist. Why humor them? No one in Kentucky is that oblivious.
throwaway, never proofreads, every post a gamble
If you read the article, it’s one man who did that which is spoken of as shocking and wrong, which comes after the white dude was trying to move the muslim man away from the bus stop while everyone else stood up for the muslim man vocally and nonviolently in a way I doubt would happen in the USA. (except for calling the shooter “crazy” and such but we’d just persecute people more for it…)
So yeah, cpps, wave your little Canadian flag.
Ugh, left out If you read the article and watch the video…because the video is where you see the white dude tell the muslim man to follow him and puts his arm around him to force him away.
Intent is not magic.
A couple of points. As others have mentioned, Ft. Campbell is a military base, so the residents in the housing areas come from everywhere. So the mere fact that this happened in Kentucky does not mean that the resident responsible is southern. Might be, but we don’t know.
Likewise, we don’t know yet if the resident is white. The Army skews far more black than the national average. It probably was a white person that put this up…but I could see this story taking a huge shift if we find out later it was intended as a representation of the actual family that lives there, including the skin color. Still wrong, still offensive – but that would pretty much confirm it was not intended to be racist. Anyone have any better information on the person who put these up?
This is just … beyond foul.
I can’t even.
JAL: Snark, Sarcasm & Bitterness @46
@47
What’s the time stamp on that because honestly I didn’t see it. All I saw was the white man standing with his arms to his side, a brief gesture to the man dressed as a muslim and a demand that he come with him. Then the punch.
I think I saw him briefly reach around his shoulder at 1:41. But that was in front of a different group and not at the location where he was assaulted.
@23 @13
I wonder if a Christian would be offended if I (an atheist) hung (no pun intended) a crucifix with Jesus on it in my house. Would they assume I’m celebrating his crucifixion? Hey, maybe he thought this was OK because these people died against his will for sins too, just like Jesus!
@m’thew:
From another picture at a better angle, the rest reads “You be next”.
The display was supposed to be a scene from the movie “Sinister” which portrays the murder of a white family of four in it’s opening scene. It was at a home in military housing on Fort Campbell and has been removed.
Delurking only after I saw this similar story from Minneapolis: http://kare11.tv/1wMn5Ze
Hey, millions of people put up a dead, white, hippie-looking dude hanging on some pieces of wood and no one makes a big deal about it….
They’d probably just assume you were Catholic.
I’m racking my brain trying to figure out who that would NOT offend.