'Ghetto Talent Show,' Watermelon Eating Contest Outrages Community
 

'Ghetto Talent Show,' Watermelon Eating Contest Outrages Community


Miami city leaders are apologizing for a news release that invited summer campers to a ''Ghetto Style Talent Show'' :eek: and ''Watermelon Eating Contest.''

The release said that children participating in the summer camp who "know the meaning of ghetto style" would have a chance to "prove just how ghetto they are.''

Members of the black community expressed outrage at the wording of the invitation to the talent show. The show will be part of the grand finale picnic for the city's summer camp program to be held Friday at Hadley Park.

After being criticized by residents of the nearby Model City neighborhood and community leaders, Miami Parks Director Ernest Burkeen, who is black, released a formal apology and announced the renaming of the talent show.

Read More Here

so everybody's chagrined over the wording/description of the contest, yet the contest itself, as designed, is still scheduled to go on? :rolleyes:

This reminds me of something a friend of mine use to say....
you can't pour syrup on chit and call it pancakes. LOL:o

This incident reminds me of my undergraduate years. The IFC and NPC groups organized a date auction to raise money for various charities. For some reason, they couldn't understand why any of the NPHC groups weren't interested in participating in an event that sold humans beings to others.

Everyone has their opinion...i guess (slavery flashback).

Good Quote.

HAYLE, the NPHC groups at my graduate institution would have the NPC groups sponsor the fraternities in shakin' there thang while for a "date auction" on campus... They would say the proceeds go to a "battered women's shelter"... And got mad at me when I said they need to take that chit off campus, somewhere else... Girls paying for dates... Brothaman shakin' his dang-a-lang while the prices go up... I was hated. But, my afrocentric friends said what would you expect from "those" greeks...

Sometimes we do it to ourselves to. On my campus (an HBCU) a BGLO sorority held an auction every year. :( A person would literally stand on stage while bidding on him/her.

I was thinking the same thing.

they were talkin about this on the way to work.

some hispanic chick was like...."white peole and latinos eat watermelon, too....i don't get it!!"

Unsspeakable what can I say....in 2005!:eek:

This may just be where I am from, but calling someone Ghetto is not a compliment...Here, ghetto is more of an attitidude that you adapt...and you can be white,black,blue,purple....to be called ghetto is basically to be called uneducated. Its the same as being called redneck. And to be labeled as one it does not matter where you live. Not all people from the "projects" are ghetto, and not all people from the country are "rednecks". It depends on how you present yourself and if when you open your mouth you sound like a moron. Does this make sense? I understand why people were upset by the tagline of showing how ghetto your are, but what I don't understand is why it was only the black community that was upset. And the other thing I don't understand is why people are upset that the contest is still going on... maybe I was not reading it right, but as long as they aren't making it about "how ghetto your are" then what is wrong with a talent show and a watermelon eating contest? To me thats like a pie eating contest....but like I said I could have been reading it wrong....

Elicia

You had me until the end of your quote... Blacks in minstrel shows were constantly portrayed as big lipped, big nosed, non educated, black, chicken smackin, WATERMELON eatin, porch monkeys. Hmmmm now ask yourself.... why would a black person NOT be offended by a WATERMELON EATING CONTEST IN A GHETTO TALENT SHOW??

Please don't misunderstand me...I understand that people would be angry about being sterotyped. That is why I cand see the outrage at calling it a "ghetto" show. What I was confused about is if they are taking the "ghetto" part out than why is it still so offensive? How I read the article, people were mad at the talent show part...not the watermelon contest. And I guess the part I am struggling with is that there are so many different kinds of food eating contests, why is a watermelon contest so different from a pie eating or a Krystal eating contest? I could see it being extremely offensive if they only let black children participate because that would be feeding into the sterotype. If I offended you with anything I have said, that was not my intention...I have trouble wording some things. I am just trying to understand.
Thanks- Elicia

I have an older bruh that I look up to that use to say, "You can't shine a turd....it only smears." This usually came up during voting on interest.

Maybe the difference of opinion stems from the fact that those whose cultural history has been offended and made fun of by such "depictions" in the past, aren't parsing this event as finely as you may be, or as some of the organizers may now be doing after drawing some criticism for it. To many people it's still just an offensive event. It really may be no more complex than that.

You didn't offend me, but I'm not gonna be able to get through so I'm gonna leave this one alone. I don't know what your cultural background is but IMO every black person who knows their history should be offended by this. Things like this just make us as a people regress instead of progress...

I think that the word "ghetto" has been repeatedly used out of context. Personally, I feel that the word is sometimes thrown around frivolously. It's time we expanded our vocabulary.

TonyB, I couldn't have said it better myself:

The understanding of our cultural difference plays a significant role in our difference of opinions. Needless to say, I am offended by this, because when referring to a "ghetto" lifestyle, "ghetto" people, "ghetto" (you fill in the blank), you are not reinventing a new definition of the word. Ghetto refers to poverty and it is a negative connotation.

Maybe this definition from Oxford Dictionary will help:

ghetto
/getto/

• noun (pl. ghettos or ghettoes) 1 a part of a city, especially a slum area, occupied by a minority group. 2 historical the Jewish quarter in a city.

Little_One, I agree with you wholeheartedly, and this is why I am offended. Changing the name doesn't change the fact that it is still wrong.

I'm just sharing my perception of this misconception. I hear "ghetto" thrown around on a regular basis. When using the word, it always referred to something unusual in a negative context. I have been blessed to have friends of many ethnicities, asian, hispanics, caucasians, egyptians, etc. and we always share and educate each other about the impact stereotypes have on our cultures. But just as I don't expect them to speak on behalf or their entire ethnicity, I do not speak on behalf of all black women. However, in my opinion when referring to the usage of the word "ghetto", I personally feel that:

-It should not be a part of the title of a talent show.
-It's not a word to grab out the air when you don't know another word to use.
-It's not a word to use to entertain company when when you may have one black friend present.
-As a matter a fact, it's almost equivalent to the word "nigger", and using it frivolously is a big no-no.;)

My prof says "You can't put sugar on chit and call it ice cream."

TonyB, you took the thoughts right out of my head.

ETA: Little_One: your first explanation was on clearly on-point.

/hijack

I wanna be in the front row to watch you work that one into an opening statement. :)

...see, Perry Mason, Matlock, ain' none of them got nuthin' on atty SKEE :cool:

/end hijack

:D LOL! You are so silly.