Warning - Offensive Photo

[Karen Stuebing]

If it made you stop for a moment and think, then I guess that's good. To those who commented that the rope was there to stabilize it, I thought so at first too. Probably just denial. It doesn't make sense. If something made it fall it would just bang against the porch and break or the head would come off.

Karen
--



'Let us cross over the river and sit under the shade of the trees.'

Last words of General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, killed in error by his own troops at the battle of Chancellorsvillle during the US Civil War, 1863.

 

[Artshot Sue]

I am flabbergasted by this...

My in-laws used to have a black face lawn jockey on their lawn when I first met my husband... they were totally ignorant that it had any negative connotations...

I'm also somewhat horrified by the fact that I grew up with those curtains in my kitchen window... aaaggghhh

man, I would love to think the rope is there to keep it from blowing off... but really...

Sue

 

[johnd1]

If it's original ,I'll bet it's somewhat valuable.
John

 

[Beacon]

This is an interesting shot, albeit somewhat confusing.

If that statue were mine, and I were inclined to leave it on the porch (which I wouldn't), I certainly wouldn't place a rope around his neck. That is just too contray to his happy expression.

Frankly, I think the statue itself is charming, and I would want to secure it in some fashion to keep someone from carrying it off!

Black Americana is quite collectible. And it's not Caucasians that are doing all the collecting!

Furthermore, I don't think bigots would usually pay much of anything for collectible Black Americana. They usually collect much more mundane articles, if they collect anything at all besides the cheap garbage that usually clutters their houses.

If it's original ,I'll bet it's somewhat valuable.
John

--

 

[Karen Stuebing]

People around here have valuable stuff like that sitting outside because they don't know what it's worth. I see it all the time. You can really clean up at yard sales especially with old glassware because so much of it was made in WV and people think it's worthless. Believe me, the thought occured to me to knock on their door and ask if it was for sale. I could sell it on Ebay. It would be hard to ship though. It's pretty large and fragile. And my husband forbade me to do that. He said the intent is clear and that those kind of people are the kind that would shoot you. It's in a remote area in Tazewell Co, VA and he's much more familiar with the area and the people than I am. So I guess it will remain mystery. Still even if it's for stabilization, you'd think people would have more sense than to make it look like that. Personally, I think it's deliberate. Lots of racism around these parts and people don't usually bother to hide it.

As a side note, I also saw a family cemetary with a gorgeous fall hillside behind it. I asked the owners permission (for a change to go and look at it. When I came back to thank him, I had a long conversation with him. Turns out it was his family's land for miles around. They own a sawmill as well. He asked me if I saw the tombstone in the far right corner and I said yes. He told me that his family had owned slaves and when the Emancipation came, one woman had no family and nowhere to go and asked if she could stay and became part of their family. That was her grave and tombstone. And it was a real tombstone not one of those pieces of slate sticking up out of the ground with no name. I thought the story interesting after seeing the statue. I asked him if he had seen it and he made a face and said yes. He was a very genteel gentleman and it was obvious he found it distasteful. As I'm sure many locals do. But people around here believe in a man's right to do what he wants with his property without interference. So maybe in a way it forces people to confront something that is usually very subtle.

Karen

If that statue were mine, and I were inclined to leave it on the
porch (which I wouldn't), I certainly wouldn't place a rope around
his neck. That is just too contray to his happy expression.

Frankly, I think the statue itself is charming, and I would want to
secure it in some fashion to keep someone from carrying it off!

Black Americana is quite collectible. And it's not Caucasians that
are doing all the collecting!

Furthermore, I don't think bigots would usually pay much of
anything for collectible Black Americana. They usually collect much
more mundane articles, if they collect anything at all besides the
cheap garbage that usually clutters their houses.

If it's original ,I'll bet it's somewhat valuable.
John

--

--



'Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.'

Last words of General Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson, killed in error by his own troops at the battle of Chancellorsvillle during the US Civil War, 1863.

 

[shanley]

This is great photojournalism. These kinds of things help to wake peoples senses of the world around them.

I am the type to look at things objectivly. My first thought when I seen the photo was.......Maybe they have kids and know that the statue is of value and didn't want it knocked off (you would be suprised what I have tied down or blocked off).

But, if you are speaking of an area that has this type of behavior it is quite possible it should be taken at face value.

Me and the wife had a conversation the other day. She was accused by a member of a different race as being racist. I told my wife .........well you know what you should have told them your not a racist....your a dickheadist......you just hate dickheads it doesn't matter what color they are!

Keep up the work up karen......many eyes need to be opened.
--
Shanley
http://www.pbase.com/shanley (supporter)

 

[Ger Bee]

............ you'd get if a good gust of wind came along ........

You must be from one of those voodoo cultures, silly opinion, IMO.

 

[Beacon]

............ you'd get if a good gust of wind came along ........

You must be from one of those voodoo cultures, silly opinion, IMO.

This has WHAT to do with Voodoo?

--
For only $19.95 you can order the VOODOO ULTIMATE REVENGE SPELL!

 

[jazzman27]

I don't know,it may not be that the residents are trying to say
anything threatening with this figure on their porch.maybe it just
appears that way. Seems to me that people that are flaming racist
are not very subtle about it when it comes to putting up exhibits
to show their bigotry. I just would put it up to poor taste. Maybe
we are reading too much into the figure setting on the porch
railing. The picture itself I view as inflamatory. They used to do
this type of stuff in the sixties. Of course I could be wrong, and
this is only my initial impression of the idea that is assigned as
a caption to this photo.

Does this bother me,yes it does.Thankfully not as much as it would have 30 or so years ago.But tell me,how could I tell my three wonderful kids that this person just has poor taste.Karen, thanks for sharing the picture with us.I know it took some tought to post it,but all pictures tell a story. Unfortunatly some stories are sad.

 

[Ger Bee]

............ you'd get if a good gust of wind came along ........

You must be from one of those voodoo cultures, silly opinion, IMO.

This has WHAT to do with Voodoo?

...... but I think people are just looking for something to say regards racism as if it’s a divine crusade they are on and they must lead the charge into every little nook and cranny. So on one hand I think the poster is over reacting, but I obviously do not know the area.

Otherwise if I think like her then it is a warning to me to stay away if I don’t agree with her interpretation of the image.

It’s like the white hunters and treasure seekers of the old movies bravely going past the tiny heads and bones which scare away all the native porters and leave our intrepid party to fend for themselves.

See it only works on the people who believe in it. So I took her analogy a bit farther and imagine the porcelain figurine not sitting on the bench and I will not finish my sentence here.

If I had not been primed by the poster’s words to set me in a mindset to see racism I would not have given this image any consideration. In fact on the contrary I would have envisioned a coloured or black family, whichever is the correct term as one is a racist slant on either side of the Atlantic so I cannot win here, but a family nonetheless living there.

The poster went on to reveal further investigative reporting in the local town to support her opinions, but I could read that a different way too.

Finally if I had come across this, and thought the way the poster did, then I would not have propagated the image which will actually only bolster up others who may feel the same way to become more forceful and maybe start wearing the badges again, no I’d not want to risk that at all.

If the image had stood on it’s own I’d have thought it funny as it has a lot of connotations, but if it is a warning to some sections of the community then it’s a threat and surely is against the law and should be dealt with.

OH ye! Forget, Voodoo, the voodoo doll scaring people away or stick pins in them and they all hurt bizarre IMO.

 

[James C. Whiteside III]

When I was in High School a few years ago, I worked at a local lawn ornament place. They manufactured around 1000+ items and this was one of those.

Actually thats a big thing. Many years ago they stopped making them that way and many people of all races seemed to get upset, since they wanted one. With that the company started makeing them and others similar to them.

As far as the orginial thing goes, that going to be a touchy subject. We it does not take long for one of those statues to fade an chip to look like the one in the photo. To be honest the value of one in that shap is only around $10-20. Actually a new one is not much more, when its all painted up.

Heres a link to the place. The statues are not on the website, but they do have them onsite. And by the way I am not connected with the lawn ornament place, I just posted the link incase someone want to take there chances with ebay.

http://www.harperslawnornaments.com/

It is a shame to see they (the owners) are displaying it in such a way. Items like this were made to display prouldly and happly. The problems is they seemed to cross the line and display if the wrong way. What a shame.
--
Olympus C-2100 - C-700 & Fuji S602
Canon TL-55(1.4X),B-300,TCON-14, A-200, C-180,
C-210, Tiffen .7X WA, & Adorama 2X Teleconverter
If they make it, I STACK-IT
Dreaming about a MORE POWER

 

[George Druther]

When I was in High School a few years ago, I worked at a local lawn
ornament place. They manufactured around 1000+ items and this was
one of those.

Actually thats a big thing. Many years ago they stopped making them
that way and many people of all races seemed to get upset, since
they wanted one. With that the company started makeing them and
others similar to them.

As far as the orginial thing goes, that going to be a touchy
subject. We it does not take long for one of those statues to fade
an chip to look like the one in the photo. To be honest the value
of one in that shap is only around $10-20. Actually a new one is
not much more, when its all painted up.

Heres a link to the place. The statues are not on the website, but
they do have them onsite. And by the way I am not connected with
the lawn ornament place, I just posted the link incase someone want
to take there chances with ebay.

http://www.harperslawnornaments.com/

It is a shame to see they (the owners) are displaying it in such a
way. Items like this were made to display prouldly and happly. The
problems is they seemed to cross the line and display if the wrong
way. What a shame.
--
Olympus C-2100 - C-700 & Fuji S602
Canon TL-55(1.4X),B-300,TCON-14, A-200, C-180,
C-210, Tiffen .7X WA, & Adorama 2X Teleconverter
If they make it, I STACK-IT
Dreaming about a MORE POWER

I went to the site and found a whole bunch of lawn ornaments in their "Politicy Incorrect" dept.
http://www.harperslawnornaments.com/lrg%20jockey.htm

--
In West Virginia there are no strangers.. Only friends we have'nt met..



George, K2EWL http://wwwbg.tripod.com
Pics at http://www.pbase.com/george_druther
also at http://www.bytephoto.com/ (free hosting site)