DR1 purports itself to be a forum, about the Dominican Republic, where those (of different and diverse cultures, countries, ethnticities etc.) who live and or come to visit, or simply have an interest in the Dominican Republic can come together and express their views.
That is at least what I thought!
Recently a poster who from what I can gather, may have or may not have been kicked off in the past for some type of discretions, unknown to me, nor do I care, has decided to post under the handle of "Littleblacksambo" He has claimed that the reason for this is that it was one of his favorite children stories as he grew up, that being the reason for the handle. Whether that is the truth or not the handle is offensive to many, myself obviously included. This has been made know on this forum by posters, myself included, but yet our feelings have been ignored and deemed not important, I am not asking that this poster be denied membership to the forum, but I do believe that some sensitivity in regards to others feelings, their history etc. should be considered. After all we could all post things that are racially insensitive to others, if we wanted to, but what then would become of this forum.
You at DR1 do as you will with this issue, but I assure you, I for one will be watching, and I am sure I am not alone in regards to this. The only reason I felt the need to start a thread, is because other times it was mentioned, it appeared that the sentiments were ignored, so be it, now I will put it in your face!!!
For those of you who don't understand my outrage let me spell it out for you!!!:
In the US though, the word ?sambo? has been used to demean and degrade Africans and African-Americans alike. ?Sambo? was a common slave name in the US, and the late 19th century children?s book The Story of Little Black Sambo is cited as furthering the word as a slur. While the book was set in southern Indian, it did play on the blackface iconography and African-American intellectuals have been critical of the pickaninny motifs.
Here is the Online Etymology Dictionary?s entry for ?Sambo?:
Sambo (2)
stereotypical name for male black person (now only derogatory), 1818, Amer.Eng., probably a different word from sambo (1); like many such words (Cuffy, Rastus, etc.) a common personal name among U.S. blacks in the slavery days (first attested 1704 in Boston), probably from an African source, cf. Foulah sambo ?uncle,? or a similar Hausa word meaning ?second son.? Used without conscious racism or contempt until circa World War II. When the word fell from polite usage, collateral casualties included the enormously popular children?s book ?The Story of Little Black Sambo? (by Helen Bannerman), which actually is about an East Indian child, and the Sambo?s Restaurant chain, a U.S. pancake-specialty joint originally opened in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1957 (the name supposedly from a merging of the names of the founders, Sam Battistone and Newell ?Bo? Bohnett, but the chain?s decor and advertising leaned heavily on the book), which once counted 1,200 units coast-to-coast. Civil rights agitation against it began in 1970s and the chain collapsed, though the original restaurant still is open. Many of the defunct restaurants were taken over by rival Denny?s.
included in the loaded ?sambo? term are things like blackface and other tropes like unkempt hair and watermelons?tropes used to degrade and oppress African-Americans into simple, comical characters. In short, to dehumanise and objectify. From the post-Civil War era, food items like fried chicken and watermelon were used to stereotype ?darkey? African-Americans. The popular culture depiction of African-Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century was stuffing their faces with watermelons and gnawing on fried chicken.
There was even a New Jersey brand of watermelon called ?Sambo brand?.
The watermelon images and ?sambo? slurs reduced African-Americans to two-dimensional characters. Similar ?sambo? and watermelon imagery have been used by those unhappy with President Obama. As The Chicago Sun-Times? Mary Mitchell writes, ?The smiling ?darkey? eating watermelon was a popular image during America?s racist past, and was the one of the stereotypes used by Obama-haters during the presidential campaign?.
Both ?sambo? and the image of a watermelon carry the baggage of the American experience regarding racism. There is a connection between them. A long, painful and oppressive one.
I hope you consider this and do the right thing!!!!!
That is at least what I thought!
Recently a poster who from what I can gather, may have or may not have been kicked off in the past for some type of discretions, unknown to me, nor do I care, has decided to post under the handle of "Littleblacksambo" He has claimed that the reason for this is that it was one of his favorite children stories as he grew up, that being the reason for the handle. Whether that is the truth or not the handle is offensive to many, myself obviously included. This has been made know on this forum by posters, myself included, but yet our feelings have been ignored and deemed not important, I am not asking that this poster be denied membership to the forum, but I do believe that some sensitivity in regards to others feelings, their history etc. should be considered. After all we could all post things that are racially insensitive to others, if we wanted to, but what then would become of this forum.
You at DR1 do as you will with this issue, but I assure you, I for one will be watching, and I am sure I am not alone in regards to this. The only reason I felt the need to start a thread, is because other times it was mentioned, it appeared that the sentiments were ignored, so be it, now I will put it in your face!!!
For those of you who don't understand my outrage let me spell it out for you!!!:
In the US though, the word ?sambo? has been used to demean and degrade Africans and African-Americans alike. ?Sambo? was a common slave name in the US, and the late 19th century children?s book The Story of Little Black Sambo is cited as furthering the word as a slur. While the book was set in southern Indian, it did play on the blackface iconography and African-American intellectuals have been critical of the pickaninny motifs.
Here is the Online Etymology Dictionary?s entry for ?Sambo?:
Sambo (2)
stereotypical name for male black person (now only derogatory), 1818, Amer.Eng., probably a different word from sambo (1); like many such words (Cuffy, Rastus, etc.) a common personal name among U.S. blacks in the slavery days (first attested 1704 in Boston), probably from an African source, cf. Foulah sambo ?uncle,? or a similar Hausa word meaning ?second son.? Used without conscious racism or contempt until circa World War II. When the word fell from polite usage, collateral casualties included the enormously popular children?s book ?The Story of Little Black Sambo? (by Helen Bannerman), which actually is about an East Indian child, and the Sambo?s Restaurant chain, a U.S. pancake-specialty joint originally opened in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1957 (the name supposedly from a merging of the names of the founders, Sam Battistone and Newell ?Bo? Bohnett, but the chain?s decor and advertising leaned heavily on the book), which once counted 1,200 units coast-to-coast. Civil rights agitation against it began in 1970s and the chain collapsed, though the original restaurant still is open. Many of the defunct restaurants were taken over by rival Denny?s.
included in the loaded ?sambo? term are things like blackface and other tropes like unkempt hair and watermelons?tropes used to degrade and oppress African-Americans into simple, comical characters. In short, to dehumanise and objectify. From the post-Civil War era, food items like fried chicken and watermelon were used to stereotype ?darkey? African-Americans. The popular culture depiction of African-Americans during the late 19th and early 20th century was stuffing their faces with watermelons and gnawing on fried chicken.
There was even a New Jersey brand of watermelon called ?Sambo brand?.
The watermelon images and ?sambo? slurs reduced African-Americans to two-dimensional characters. Similar ?sambo? and watermelon imagery have been used by those unhappy with President Obama. As The Chicago Sun-Times? Mary Mitchell writes, ?The smiling ?darkey? eating watermelon was a popular image during America?s racist past, and was the one of the stereotypes used by Obama-haters during the presidential campaign?.
Both ?sambo? and the image of a watermelon carry the baggage of the American experience regarding racism. There is a connection between them. A long, painful and oppressive one.
I hope you consider this and do the right thing!!!!!
