Posted on 01/25/2007 6:31:46 AM PST by Arec Barrwin
MLK Party Causes Uproar on Texas Campus Email this Story
Jan 25, 5:47 AM (ET)
By JEFF CARLTON
DALLAS (AP) - Authorities at Tarleton State University said they plan to investigate a Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes by featuring fried chicken, malt liquor and faux gang apparel.
"I feel like there is no excuse for this type of ignorance," said Donald Ray Elder, president of the Stephenville school's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Photographs posted on social networking Web site Facebook.com showed partygoers wearing Afro wigs and fake gold and silver teeth. One photo showed students "mocking how African-Americans do step shows," Elder said. In another picture, a student is dressed as Aunt Jemima and carries a gun.
"That upsets me," Elder said. "That's someone who knows nothing about Dr. King, because Dr. King was totally about nonviolence."
Wanda Mercer, the school's vice president of student life, said an investigation was planned into the Jan. 15 party.
More than 400 students attended a university-sponsored forum Wednesday night that Elder described as "a shaky baby step" in bridging a divide between black and white students on the campus, which had about 400 black students out of 7,800 overall last semester.
Elder said he sensed a racial divide at the forum, with black students sitting on one side of the room and whites on the other.
"It was civil, but it also escalated into a shouting match," he said in a telephone interview afterward.
Some of the students shown in the photos apologized, Elder said.
University President Dennis P. McCabe said the photographs were reprehensible.
"I am personally insulted by these photographs and am disappointed that Tarleton students have demonstrated such insensitivity," he said.
Stephenville is about 60 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
FYI: Tarleton is known as one of the Cowboy Colleges. Another is Sul Ross University.
It's not just the mocking, it is the federal, state, and local funding OF such art mocking Jesus.
The first Amendment doesn't say anything about taxpayers being forced to pay thousands to support such offenses.
A picture as good as a thousand words.
Didn't the NAACP just give an award to Bono for his humanitarian efforts? Of course it was his "pal" (and Bono does defend him) President Bush who had to put pen to paper to aid Africa.
Sit down, STFU, and eat yo' pancakes MOFO!
"Sure, it's ignorant but it's also in the great American tradition of lampooning pompousness."
Its only appropiate to lampoon whites and asians.
Agreed, I'm glad I was able to sift through all of the racist MLK bashers to find a rational post.
I think the students (black, white, brown, yellow) should be free to have any sort of party they want as long as they aren't breaking the law. The black students could do the same thing mocking white stereo types (The south will rise again, redneck, inbred, dixie flag flyin, trailer trash, methfreak party) if they wanted to be that petty and confrontational.
It's just a stupid gag, in bad taste but not truely harmful in any capacity, there is no need for "investigation" and the following race baiting accusations and "sensitivity" seminars and endless "town hall" meetings to bring the community together.
How about teaching classes and preparing these kids for a career?
The reason this is so funny to me is that Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock wouldn't receive an ounce of grief for doing the same thing. Has anyone seen the Chris Rock bit on "How to avoid a police beating"? A vanilla-face could never pull this off without facing hate-crime charges.
Too true and too sad.
I'd love to see what Jesse and Al would say about Frederick Douglas if he were alive and politically active today.
"president of the Stephenville school's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."
I have no sympathy for someone who heads a racist organization. Anything that mentions skin color is racist, whether it is a newspaper article, a Congressional organization, a social organization, or - yes - the NAACP.
What deity????????
I can't say that MLK professed violence, but the movement that seemed to spark from his presence was certainly violent. Very violent.
Of course they were the racists sic'd dogs on 'em, had riot police beat 'em and turned fire hoses on them. Very violent indeed.
Well, maybe feminists have a sexual preference for white women too.
LOL!!!
BTW: What is a "step show?"
I guess if one highlights the many things MLK did that were immoral, dishonest, and unpatriotic it makes them racist...racism, the last thing someone throws out when they have lost the argument.
Sounds like fun! One of the best kept secrets in this country is the amount of fun-poking black kids do regarding MLK and Black History Month. Years ago when I was teaching in a Detroit high school, I spotted a black 9th grader passing around a drawing, which was getting a lot of laughs from his black classmates. When I asked him to share it with the class, it turned out to be a spot-on drawing of "Martin Luther Conehead," a la the SNL characters. The boy then went into a routine announcing, "Ah have some cheese! And if you have some bread, togetha we can make a cheese sandwich!"
The class cracked up and it took a lot of effort for me to try to keep a straight face!
Thank's, well said!!!!!!!
No I just don't see any other reason to bash a dead guy who regardless of what his personal morals may have been did accomplish a lot of good. Unless of course one views his accomplishments as a bad thing.
It's the same thing as bringing up Reagan's character defects everytime he is mentioned or honored. Why not just remember him for the good he did and honor his memory, what would bashing him do other than dismiss the good he did?
I do not become upset with the parody of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day, some of them are very funny and true.
There are much more important issues facing Blacks than this parody.
Mr. Elder, get a life.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.