Posted on 08/31/2017 5:22:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
There is a raging controversy within the University of Mississippi’s Greek Life community regarding race relations and bananas.
A Greek Life leader accidentally sparked mass hysteria after he placed a banana peel on a tree in the woods -- because he could not find a trash can.
The Daily Mississippian reports that three black students found the banana peel -- and were apparently triggered by what they saw.
"To be clear, many members of our community were hurt, frightened, and upset," the interim director of fraternity and sorority life wrote in a letter obtained by the newspaper.
The president of one sorority told the newspaper that "bananas have historically been used to demean black people."
I always thought bananas were historically used to make banana pudding.
It's unclear how many were triggered by the banana peel - but the fear and trepidation was so great that a meeting was convened at the campground. The Daily Mississippian described what happened:
"The massive discussion session wrapped up as more and more students stood and left the room - some in tears, some in frustration. NPHC members began texting friends to come and pick them up from the camp since no one had been allowed to drive his or her car up to the retreat. The remainder of the retreat was canceled later that night," the newspaper reported.
It sounds as if terrified Ole Miss students were stampeding through the woods weeping and wailing as they sought psychological refuge from the banana peel.
An Ole Miss spokesman confirmed there was some sort of incident.
“We are aware of the situation and are working to address it through appropriate channels,” the spokesman told me. “Since we became aware of what occurred at the fraternity and sorority community’s retreat, UM staff acted quickly in an effort to engage in discussion with students.”
Does that mean Ole Miss will ban racially-offensive fruit and vegetables from campus dining halls? Has there been a call to banish banana nut bread or ice cream sundaes or heaven forbid - banana pudding?
The young man who discarded the banana peel - profusely apologized and said he meant no harm – but I doubt it’s going to make much difference.
"I want to sincerely apologize for the events that took place this past weekend," the student wrote in a letter to the newspaper. "Although unintentional, there is no excuse for the pain that was caused to members of our community."
In retrospect - the young man would have been better off just tossing the peel on the ground. It's better to be a litterbug than to be falsely accused of being a racist.
I imagine the only thing that could have possibly been more offensive -- would have been eating the banana while watching Gone with the Wind.
It is ignorant to throw a banana peel on the ground
I have a solution. Bring in John Cleese to teach a class in self-defense against fresh fruit. They will never be afraid of bananas again!
It doesn’t take much to set off some people. Remember a few years back when they went bonkers over some wire nooses hanging in a tree?
Seems a fraternity had a party in which Japanese lanterns were hanged from them and when the party ended they failed to take down the wires, which set of the snowflakes.
That is exactly what can happen if you step on a banana peel
What The Holy Heck??
I have NEVER heard that bananas are used/have been used/will be used to demean black people. This is made up cr@p.
Stop the world, I want to get off. :(
Sgt.: Now, it’s quite simple to defend yourself against a man armed with a banana. First of all you force him to drop the banana; then, second, you eat the banana, thus disarming him. You have now rendered him ‘elpless.
Palin: Suppose he’s got a bunch?
Sgt.: Shut up.
I’m not sure what the reference to a eggplant is. Can you explain please?
One of my favorite Monty Python sketches.
THIS is what they recall as being "historical?"
I don't think these children have any knowledge at all about the "history" of anything. They didn't pay attention in grade school, and they haven't taken those classes in college.
They don't know the history of Robert E. Lee, but they know the history of bananas?
Yeah... right...
-PJ
I bet the local farmers market is selling watermelons..... the horror ...even more racist than a Confederate flag.
The way this works is that when you put in your grant, you pad it with 1) all your salary offsets, 2) every perk you can think of such as additional office space, research assistants, book budgets, and so on. Then the U adds its “overhead”. At UD that number was an astonishing 45%.
For what? Processing a few forms?
I don’t care for watermelons. They’re to messy and have no taste. I prefer Cantaloupes, or Honeydew melons
You have been watching too many old cartoons.
Proof yet again that we have too many colleges and too many students that don’t have the chops to be there.
We could easily cut the number of colleges by 90% and still have too many.
“It’s not about what many blacks think about bananas - it’s about what they think of white people.”
Exactly! These blacks are racists.
You are suffering from a condition known as “White Privilege”.
Campuses are officially more weird, and less cool, than the classic television show The Twilight Zone.
How long before KFC gets attacked for being racially insensitive?
“study the long-term effects of (fill in blank) on the regional (environment/local school/local district) to “prevent a re-occurrence”” of the original lawsuit.”
So with crying and upset students, they’re on the way to getting a research grant in order to “study the long-term effects of (banana peels in trees) at (Ole Miss) in order to “prevent a re-occurrence”?
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