Posted on 10/08/2017 7:14:13 PM PDT by Lera
A Detroit firefighter was fired before he officially began his first day on the job for bringing a watermelon to work.
Robert Pattison, 41, introduced himself to his fellow firefighters at Engine 55 at the corner of Joy and Southfield in Detroit by bringing a welcome gift, WJBK reported.
Second Battalion Chief Shawn McCarty calls this welcome gift “a tradition” for Engine 55’s firefighters.
“It’s not mandatory, it’s voluntary,” he said. “You come in bearing gifts. The usual gift is doughnuts, but you are allowed to bring whatever you want to bring in.”
Pattison, who was a probationary firefighter, decided to stand out from the crowd and bring a watermelon with a pink bow on top.
Some black firefighters were reportedly offended by Pattison’s gesture since 90 percent of the firefighters at Engine 55 are black.
“When you get your first detail at a firehouse you pretty much know what you are getting yourself into,” said Patrick Trout. “So you would have to say it was probably a bad call.”
McCarty said that some people at the firehouse claim it is “racially insensitive” to bring a watermelon to a firehouse.
Pattison argued that he did not bring in the watermelon as a joke and had no intention of offending his colleagues.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Some fire department in Iowa or Missouri should hire him pronto.
The Black people in my office would be put out if there WASN’T a watermelon at a summer party ;-)
But I’ll bet he would have been welcomed if he brought 12 buckets of fried chicken.
I grew up loving watermelon. It never occurred to me to relate watermelon with race. This is beyond ridiculous. What’s next, gender assigned watermelon?
Some look for any lame excuse to hate. The real racists are obvious.
I hope this guy SUES. And maybe can count himself lucky. Would YOU want to have to possibly rely on these idiots to save your life?
So show up with a watermelon and they thing "ah hah! white privileged holding me down! I knew it! poor me."
So are grocery stores that sell watermelons “racially insensitive?”
I bet the attitude of the determined-to-be-offended crowd would swiftly turn pro-watermelon if someone were to pass a resolution banning blacks from buying, selling or eating watermelon. then they would DEMAND watermelon.
If it was close to Christmas he might have brought in a fruitcake———but then another group would be mad,I guess.
.
Well, if he hadn’t brought the watermelon, he probably would have been fired the next day for something else. Wearing shoelaces, maybe. That’s how they keep the department 90% black.
Racist Gift Basket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDWYzYMQhaw
The other side of that story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGxcGVEp23I
When someone does to you what you did to someone else (the extended version of the “Racist Gift Basket”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxI4zarVqE If you’re going to watch only one of these three videos, THIS IS IT.
Ban hatermelons!
The next black guy who brings watercress sandwiches to work should be fired by the same standard if fairly applied.
He deserves to be fired. He should only bring racially sensitive watermelon to work, NOT the racially insensitive watermelon!/S
SHEESH!
I’m very concerned that single payer health care might turn out like public education has. How is it that watermelons have become symbols of racism.
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.