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 Linda Thomas
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Linda is the morning news anchor and features reporter for KIRO Radio. This is her local news blog, with an emphasis on social media, technology, Northwest companies, education, parenting, and anything else that grabs her attention.

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Is this racist, part 2: Slavery dress-up

September 16, 2010 @ 3:03 am (Updated: 3:46 pm - 3/28/11 )

A report about the Tea Party movement's parade float in Central Washington asked the simple question, "Is this racist?"

KIRO talk host Dori Monson followed up by interviewing the person responsible for the float, who said their message was a statement about the economy, not about race.

A lot of people have been commenting on the story, and although everyone was viewing the same information, people processed it quite differently with one person saying, "Racism can be subjective at times." Some said it was absolutely racist, others thought it was "stupid," but not racist.

One Seattle reader sent me this picture from an event the National Federation of Republican Women held last weekend in South Carolina - which was described as a slavery dress-up party as part of their board of directors meeting.

He rhetorically asks, "I wonder if your readers who thought that wasn't racist, of course it is, would think this is good fun?"

NFRW

The event was called "A Southern Experience." This photo features S.C. Senate President Glenn McConnell in the center and two actors who were hired to dress as slaves and pose with guests at the Country Club of Charleston.

McConnell defends his appearance in several photos taken by Thomas C. Hanson.

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Comments (5)


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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    In context, (in the United States), the celebration of slavery is by default racist
    September 16, 2010 7:01 am
    Some cultures had systems of slavery in which masters and slaves were of the same race. In this country, most blacks were brought here specifically to be sold and used as slaves. Nearly every salve owner was white. Black people were considered property.

    The same institution that assigned the stereotypical roles depicted in the photo, (the field hand and the house "worker"), measured the humanity of blacks at 3/5 of a person. During a census, every five slaves were counted as three actual human beings.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    Nathan Bedford Forrest Rides Again......
    September 16, 2010 7:20 am
    Following the loss of the War for Southern Independence, those states who had joined the Confederacy were economically raped by northen captialists and opportunists. (Not dissimilar from the rich capitalists now defended passionately by dirt poor southern "conservatives").

    In many rural states and communities, the former slaves drastically outnumbered their former masters, and the unthinkable occured: Black people began assuming public office.

    A former confederate cavalry officer, Nathan Bedford Forrest, seized the opportunity provided by the public outrage and formed an ad-hoc political action group to protest the upstart [racial epithet deleted]s. Forrest and his group believed these unwhite people needed to be reminded of their "place". Forrest and his group of night riders employed cavalry raiding tactics to terrorize blacks who ran for office, presumed to hold property, or were generally considered too "uppity".

    Forrest's organization still exists, primarily as a bunch of small and independent hate and terror cell collectively identified as the Ku Klux Klan.

    Most members of the Tea party are not racist. Only a few are overtly racist. Some racists, however, are seeking refuge in the Tea party because the party has failed to draw a bright line between protesting Obama's presidential policies and denigrating him due to his race.

    For a small number of people, the fact that a black man now holds the highest office in the United States and arguably the most powerful office in the world is intolerable. A small number of people believe that such an office should be reserved for whites only; and preferably a white man.

    The response, by a small but visible number of people, to this politically empowered black man is reminiscent of attitudes not as publicly displayed since the days of "reconstruction".

    Nathan Beford Forrest rides again.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    How many white people dressed like slaves.....
    September 16, 2010 7:54 am
    during the Republican Women's "Dress Like a Slave Day"?

    If the answer is reflected in this photo, the event was overtly racist.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rh1 wrote...
    Smh
    September 16, 2010 9:30 am
    My biggest problem is that any black people actually agreed to take part in this...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }