Plaque Honoring Actor Instead Has Name of MLK's Killer
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2002Jan16.html

The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 16, 2002; 5:04 AM


LAUDERHILL, Fla. –A plaque intended to honor deep-voiced actor James Earl Jones at this city's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration instead is erroneously inscribed to James Earl Ray, King's killer.

"Thank you James Earl Ray for keeping the dream alive," reads the plague, which has prompted outrage among civil leaders.

The plaque, to be presented at Lauderhill's annual King celebration Saturday, was made by Texas-based Merit Industries at the request of Adpro, a Lauderhill-based business.

But instead of thanking Jones, the plaque erroneously honors Ray, who shot and killed King in 1968.

"It had an immediate chill. It was eerie," said Adpro owner Gerald Wilcox, 43, as he showed the plaque displaying words that, he said, "deeply hurt."

Wilcox said he knew the error didn't come from his company, but he sent a company secretary searching through order forms, just to be sure.

The plaque features a 15-cent stamp of King and stamps of six other famous African-Americans, including Harriet Tubman, W.E. B. DuBois and Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The finished product arrived Monday and, even without seeing it, officials in this Fort Lauderdale suburb were angry.

"It's a real outrage," Commissioner Margaret Bates told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "To confuse James Earl Jones with James Earl Ray ... Just think of the significance."

Jones is a Tony-Award winning actor who provided the voice for Darth Vader from "Star Wars" and Mufasa from "The Lion King."

Merit's owner, Herbert Miller, called the mistake a copy error, not a slur.

"We have a lot of people who don't speak English. Accidentally, one of the girls who doesn't know James Earl Jones from a man on the moon accidentally typed James Earl Ray," said Miller, who offered to correct the plaque if Adpro returns it.

Wilcox accused Miller's company of being "culturally insensitive" and is having the damage repaired locally so it will be ready Saturday.

© 2002 The Associated Press

I don't buy the blame being put on a non-English speaking employee (can we say profiling?). If this was someone's idea of a sick joke, it ain't funny!

OMG!!!!!!!!:eek: :mad:

Confused, TYPO???
 

I don't care what language you speak. If you are copying something, you copy it. I could understand a typo. You cannot CONFUSE Jones with Ray. "culturally insensitive" I agree.

Deliverance
 

Reading this story, I'm reminded of Deliverance, a movie about ignorant hillbillies.

Having Latino workers is no acceptable excuse. But I bet that no Blacks are employed at the company, so there was no "quality control" at work.

Cue Dueling Banjos, please. :mad:

WTH :eek:

humph!
 

typo my eye :rolleyes:

I can't believe......
 

That the president would even try to place the blame on his non-English speaking workers. If they can't speak the language, what would make you think that they know the history and know who James Earl Ray is?

Boooooooooooo!
 

I don't care what country you are from...a "J" does not look like a "R". PLUS, the "J" and the "R" are not located NEAR each other on the KEYBOARD....HELLOOOOOOOOOO!

James Earl RAY
James Earl JONES


PUHLEEZE! :rolleyes:

Re: I can't believe......
 

hell, if they can't speak english, WHY HIRE THEM???!!!!

Re: Re: I can't believe......
 

Disclaimer: This is ST's opinion and contains elements of sarcasm.

Because I'm sure that the yahoos who run that plant would rather have workers who don't talk back and spout off about their rights.:rolleyes:

On a serious note, many blue-collar employers, like this sign maker, do prefer to hire immigrants, particularly Latinos, because they feel that immigrants won't hassle them about working conditions, et al.

On purpose
 

I say that it was done on purpose. How can they possibly get Ray out of JONES. Come on now':mad: :mad: And bush's neck is just as red as my mad faces in my post. So he needs to stop covering for anyone. He better continue to cover those trails he left in Florida. Okay I am venting. I still say it was done on purpose, Imigrant or not.

Greetings,

I say that this was done on purpose and it is very distasteful. There is NO WAY you can mis-type these names and it just so happens that the name of the man who killed MLK shows up on a plague. That's garbage. I was born at night but not last night. This is sad!!!













:mad: :mad:

Still booing!
 

James Earl Jones, according to CNN, said that this is being blown out of proportion. :rolleyes:

He would say that! :rolleyes:

Re: Still booing!
 

Da H*LL!!!:mad: :mad:

I wish a mofo would mess up my name like that. They messed up my name on a plaque in college, left out a letter. They were supposed to fix it -- that was 1995. 7 years later, I am still plaqueless -- I literally just remembered that.:eek: :eek:

http://www.plauder-smilies.de/angryfire.gif

Garbage. Someone did that mess intentionally. Even if an immigrant did it, how in the heezzay faseezay would he know who James Earl Ray was (can we say... SET UP?)?

Typo...??? :confused: ??? Whatever! http://www.plauder-smilies.de/rough/twak.gif They could have come up with a bettter one than that. James Earl Jomes is a typo.

but wait.... (laugh break)

CT4, did you really say "I wish a mofo..."?

ROTFL! :D

http://www.plaudersmilies.de/laugh1.gif
Girl yes and that was the "edited" word.

Like TP said, James Earl JoMes is a typo, an error, a mistake, etc.
JAMES EARL RAY is EVIL, pure and simple. http://www.plaudersmilies.de/screams.gif

I ain't buying it!!
 

Who was this "non-English speaking" worker's supervisor?

The worker was probably copying something that an "English" speaking person wrote.

How did it become public knowledge?

Why didn't they catch and correct it right after production?

It seems very intentional to me. A plaque with that much importance should have been checked thoroughly by several different people before leaving the plant. Are you telling me all of them didn't notice it? I think not!

Yes, it's disgusting...
 

but at least the plaque is being fixed.:o

Thursday, Feb 7, 2002, 3:42 pm EST

MSNBC Apologizes for Misspelling
Associated Press

-----------------------------


NEW YORK (AP) - MSNBC has apologized for a typographical error that turned the name of an interview subject into a racial slur.

The network on Monday aired an interview about the Enron case with Republican consultant Niger Innis. The onscreen graphic identifying Innis, who is black, had an extra 'g' in his first name.

Shortly after it appeared, correspondent Gregg Jarrett offered Innis a "profuse apology."

"Oh, God, I thought you guys thought I was a rapper or something," Innis replied. "Media bias continues. Just kidding. It's not the first time it's happened,:eek: but hopefully it's the last." :rolleyes:

It was strictly a typographical mistake, network spokesman Mark O'Connor said Thursday. He wouldn't say whether any disciplinary action was taken against the person who made the blunder.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press.

Yeah right...
 

...and I'm the Tooth Fairy! :rolleyes:

What does that typo have to do with rap? See, that is just one more example as to why WE SHOULD NOT be calling ourselves by the N-word!

well....
 

This isn't a thread about immigrants and non-English speaking inhabitants of this country.
I think that people are jumping to conclusions when they assume some type of conspiracy or hidden racism. There are some really stupid blunders that occur for various reasons. Until proven otherwise, I believe that this was a Freudian slip (which is different from a typo) of extremely bad taste. Names sound similar and people don't always think straight. Someone could present Bill Clinton with a plaque that says George (P-Funk) Clinton---less offensive analogy.

Re: Boooooooooooo!
 

That's what I'm saying!!! You CANNOT possibly make a "mistake" like that!!

Now, maybe the second scenario w/ "Niger Innis" was a "freudian slip", as Chaos stated. I could see someone typing an extra letter but typing in two completely differnet names requires actual thinking, IMO...

Re: Re: Boooooooooooo!
 

In this day and age racism is a lot less blatant. Racists and bigots aren't making the obvious insults and public displayings of disrespect. I thought these instances were unfortunate and somewhat insulting, but not racist. Just my $19.13.

Racist
 

No insulting would have been Niger Penis or something like that, but NIGGER -- that is a RACIST insult. Intentional or no, I cannot determine but NIGGER is of a racist derogatory nature.

Re: Racist
 

Soror,

According to the Sociology of Racism, in order for something to be determined as racist, we would have to know the thoughts and intentions behind it. NIGGER is a well known racial slur, but it's use does not entail racism or that one is a racist. Racism is very intentional, so since we can't determine whether or not the mistake was intentional, we can not assume that it was racist. There's the difference, which is why we can not cry racism at every offense. It voids the argument and can dimmenish our credibility.

Re: Re: Racist
 

Scenario: A Black person is walking down the street, a white person approaches and says, "Hey NIGGER!!"
A. Freudian Slip:rolleyes:
B. Racist or insulting

I vote for B -- racist or insulting. Regardless of his or her intention, NIGGER has a negative, insulting connotation which does not translate into a Freudian slip. I graduated with a degree in psychology and studied Freud. Freudian slips is a bunch of hogwash.

Tell me was it a Freudian slip this past Halloween in Auburn?
Was it a Freudian slip then or was that insulting?

But yet typing a person's name as NIGGER vs. NIGER is NOT INSULTING?!?!?!?:confused: :confused: Puh leeeeeeease, it is an insult and one of a racist nature. Our society has become too used to the N word and as such they get less upset when it is used so casually or by members of another race or ethnicity but regardless, NIGGER was meant to be an insult upon creation and when used last week for a person's name.

Re: Re: Re: Racist
 

Simmer down, soror, the rolling eyes and so forth lead me to think that you're getting a little too amped for this to just be a Greekchat discussion ;). What you're talking about is not what the original scenario was. There's a complete difference between someone saying "hey nigger" and someone putting James Earl Ray or Inis Nigger. There is no way possible that saying "hey Nigger" can be misconstrued as anything more than a racial slur intended to insult and offend. The individual saying "hey Nigger" is being very deliberate, it isn't a mistake---unless this person is completely ignorant and unaware that this is offensive. However, you can not prove that the James Earl Ray and the Inis Nigger incidents were intentional. The question was NEVER whether these incidents were insulting...the question was whether they were racist (check the previous posts). Until someone can prove that they were intentional, this thread is based on pure speculation. I am just saying that we should not always jump to conclusions and get all excited until we know the whole story. None of us know it quite yet and are debating for the sake of debating. Again, the Auburn incident is another completely different scenario because, again, that was even MORE deliberate than saying "hey nigger."

Apparently this thread was intended as a venting tool and almost everyone assumed that all black people thought this was a racist incident--or every black person that replied would share in the outrage. Well, there are quite a few black skeptics :) out here who find these incidents insulting, but aren't quite ready to pull those racism cards out of our back pockets yet.

BTW, we do all know that racist and insulting aren't the same thing, right???

Re: Re: Re: Re: Racist
 

You're right there is a DEFINITE difference of opinion. I was not, nor am I now, "Amped" about this discussion. Using smilies or eye rolling smilie does not signify as such.

I am on to the "Agree to Disagree" aspect.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Racist
 

Good.

Re: Re: Racist
 

Hear, hear!

I know I have mistaken famous names before, it happens. I think people are vilifying the situation because it was Ray's name, in particular. But I don't see how someone would get off (pardon my term) on calling an old black man by an dead white man's name. What was that supposed to do? Insult James Earl Jones? He already said he wasn't pressed. If a mistake is made, correct it.

And what was Jones even being honored for?

But using Latinos as scapegoats was xenophobic.

Yep
 

That was shady and stereotypical. That's why I thought that was a set up from the word go. If, again the word IF is stressed, he was the one who really printed it.... & if he wasn't familiar with James Earl Ray, I feel like someone fed him the name - knowing he wouldn't have known who it was, then sat back and watched the sparks fly.

Let's not be fooled. People are more hateful & vindictive than we may care to believe. I see it happen everyday. I don't know what to think about the Nigger vs. Niger thing. Now, that has a greater potential for being a typo.... I've seen some God-awful typos on CNN updates before. It IS a bit disturbing that with a name so close to being a racial slur, they didn't check that more carefully. That's one of those things that make you go ... hmmmmmmm.... :rolleyes:

Re: Re: Re: Racist
 

I agree. Also, I don't know what Jones was being honored for...can anyone tell us?

Re: Yep
 

Yeah, the failure to proofread can be a muhfuhKKKa. I have seen typos of all sorts in major publications and all sorts of places where you'd think people would double check. Whether they were errors or not, I think (and I hope) folks have learned their lesson with both incidents.