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Children's Nursery Rhyme Triggers Racial Discrimination Lawsuit
CNSNews.com ^ | April 16, 2003 | Marc Morano

Posted on 04/17/2003 6:18:32 AM PDT by Pern

(CNSNews.com) - A Southwest Airlines flight attendant's use of a popular children's rhyme - "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe" - has resulted in a federal racial discrimination lawsuit against the airline filed by two African American women asking for unspecified financial damages.

One of the two women suing over the allegedly offensive nursery rhyme claims hearing the rhyme caused her to be bedridden for three days and suffer from "unexplained memory gaps," according to court documents.

The trial was supposed to start Tuesday in Kansas City, Kan., but U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Vratil delayed the case until Sept. 29.

Southwest Airline passengers Louise Sawyer and Grace Fuller allege they suffered racial discrimination on the flight in February 2001 when flight attendant Jennifer Cundiff said over the plane's intercom, "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; pick a seat, we gotta go." The two women say they were the only passengers standing in the aisle at the time.

Sawyer and Fuller said that as soon as they heard the rhyme, they were reminded of the racist version that starts with the phrase: "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; catch a n***** by his toe ..."

A more modern version of the nursery rhyme substitutes the offensive phrase with the words, "Catch a tiger by the toe." The rhyme is traditionally used by children to pick someone who will be "it." According to at least one word and phrase historian, the original rhyme using the n-word dates back to about the mid-19th century.

Sawyer and Fuller, who are sisters, had also originally alleged physical and emotional distress as a result of the nursery rhyme but earlier this year, Judge Vratil dismissed that aspect of the lawsuit, narrowing the complaint to the issue of discrimination.

"The court agrees with the plaintiffs that because of its history, the phrase 'eenie, meenie, minie, moe' could reasonably be viewed as objectively racist and offensive," Vratil stated in court papers. "The jury, however, must decide whether Cundiff's remark was racist or simply a benign and innocent attempt at humor."

Cundiff, who is white, disputes that Sawyer and Fuller were the only ones standing on the crowded flight. Cundiff said she had been using the rhyme on several different flights as a humorous way to get passengers to sit. Southwest Airlines employees are known for their folksy manner and casual atmosphere.

Scott A. Wissel, the Kansas City, Mo., attorney representing Sawyer and Fuller, declined to comment for this article.

But according to court documents, Sawyer said she was "infuriated by the [nursery rhyme] comment" and said fellow passengers giggled after it was said, making her feel alienated.

'Unexplained Memory Gaps'

Fuller believes Cundiff intentionally singled out her and her sister. "It was like I was too dumb to find a seat," Fuller complained in the court papers.

Fuller, who has epilepsy, said she was so unnerved by the nursery rhyme that her hands trembled during the trip and she has experienced "unexplained memory gaps" about the flight ever since.

Fuller also maintains that the nursery rhyme incident caused her to be bedridden for three days because she suffered a "grand mal seizure." However, Fuller said she could not medically verify the incident because as a result of lacking health insurance, she did not seek medical help for the seizure.

Cundiff wrote a report about the incident as part of a Southwest Airlines' internal investigation.

"The statement I made on Flight 524 was not racist or discriminating, and I am offended that because I have white skin, suddenly I am a racist," Cundiff wrote. "Maybe those that run around pointing fingers yelling racist should stop and turn that finger around."

Southwest agreed with Cundiff and does not believe the phrase was racist or that she acted inappropriately. Even though Southwest did not ask her to stop saying the rhyme, Cundiff said she stopped because of the controversy.

Wissel said he is trying to get the courts to prohibit Southwest Airlines employees from using the nursery rhyme and force the airline to provide employee training to prevent future racial controversies.

Wissel's clients, Sawyer and Fuller, are seeking an unspecified financial amount in compensatory and punitive damages.

'Ridiculous Lawsuit'

The lawsuit has provided critics of the American legal system more ammunition for their tort reform battle.

"Seems sort of a ridiculous lawsuit, but this is the rise of this litigious culture, where people look to sue at the most insignificant remark," said Steve Lilienthal, spokesman for the Free Congress Foundation (FCF). The group just hosted a seminar last week on Capitol Hill focusing on what it considers the explosion of frivolous lawsuits in America.

"There is no real racist connotation in the phrase. How can you view [that phrase] as being racist? It just doesn't make sense. Most people would look at this lawsuit and be dumbfounded," Lilienthal said.

He sees this lawsuit as part of a larger cultural problem, "one more sign of people who are simply looking to sue," Lilienthal explained. "There is a whole grievance industry set up based on the increasing use of litigation."

This is not the first time the "eenie, meenie, minie, moe" nursery rhyme has come under fire. In 2002, government officials in University City, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, printed a calendar that had a cover photo of the feet of five children, one bare and the others with shoes with a caption reading, "Eeny ... meeny ... miny ... moe" (alternate spelling). Most of the kids in the photo were African American.

After a city employee complained that the calendar was racially offensive, the city reprinted all 18,000 copies of the calendar with the photo deleted, according to the Kansas City Star.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: eenie; lawsuit; lawsuitabuse; meenie; memoryloss; minie; moe; questionofsanity; racebaiting; racialdivision; racism
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To: Pern
Also from the document at http://www.ksd.uscourts.gov/ors/opinions/012385-93.pdf:

Defendant’s conduct humiliated, angered and alienated plaintiffs. Fuller did not feel that she had received the same treatment as other passengers on the flight.

Fuller had missed her earlier flight because she did not abide by the Ten Minute Rule printed on her ticket. An agent at the gate made an exception and allowed her to be placed on priority standby for free. When it came time to board her flight, Fuller couldn't find a seat. The flight attendant/defendant then announced the now infamous rhyme.

Indeed Fuller did NOT receive the same treatment as the other passengers. The other passengers showed up on-time for their flight. They did not receive a free exemption for not following the rules.

I'm very sorry Fuller felt "humiliated, angered and alienated". Perhaps she shouldn't patronize Southwest Airlines any longer. Still, just making someone feel bad is a stupid reason to sue. Like I tell my boys, "Life's tough. Eat a peach."

101 posted on 04/17/2003 11:00:22 AM PDT by FourPeas (Iran is not a simple sentence.)
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To: Pern
I surprised to here so many say they never new of the N word version

When I was a little kid in 1960 I was the only white kid in Compton CA
The way I learn it there was:

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe
Catch a n***** by the toe
If he hollers let him pay
Fifty dollars every day
My mother told me to pick the very best one
And that is youuuuuuu!

We also would do one potato two potato

I never even knew of the tiger version till years later

102 posted on 04/17/2003 11:10:30 AM PDT by tophat9000
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To: Pern
...claims hearing the rhyme caused her to be bedridden for three days and suffer from "unexplained memory gaps...

...bedridden for three days because she suffered a "grand mal seizure


I can't help but almost feel sorry for anyone this willing to associate themselves with the word "idiot" in such a brazen fashon as this.
103 posted on 04/17/2003 11:14:50 AM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29 (Snapping fingers in a *whatever_shape_it_is* for emphasis.)
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To: tophat9000
I just learned the "n" version on this thread today. Interesting that I spent my childhood (dob 1963) in predominantly white suberbs of D.C. and never heard this version. But you, from a predominantly [insert the PC term] neighborhood, heard it the "racist" version. As I remember it:

Eenie, meenie, minie, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go
Eenie, meenie, minie, moe

104 posted on 04/17/2003 11:40:15 AM PDT by the_devils_advocate_666 (American by birth, West Virginian by the grace of god!)
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To: tdadams
They weaken the sympathy we might have for anyone who's genuinely been wronged.

Good point.

105 posted on 04/17/2003 11:48:40 AM PDT by Lady Eileen (The rights of the people come from God. The powers of government come from the people.)
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To: Pern
Maybe I'm sheltered, or something, I never knew it was EVER anything other than Catch a TIGER by the toe....These women are really pushing it. I had a more reasonable case when I ate a burrito and found a used band-aid in it. (really!) Consequently, I didn't sue (probably could've won, though!)
106 posted on 04/17/2003 11:59:39 AM PDT by I'm ALL Right! ("For he is no fool who would give what he cannot keep to buy what he can never lose." - Jim Elliot)
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To: jonathanmo
"The substitution of the word "tiger" for "nigger" highlights the original purpose and meaning of the "eenie, meenie, minie, moe" nursery rhyme. The nursery rhyme imparted to the listener that "niggers," like tigers, were dangerous animals that should be feared and destroyed."

This little rhyme is from India during the British rule period. The ORIGINAL was "Tiger by the Toe!"

The lawyer is simply, and TYPICALLY, lying. that's all. that's what lawyers are good for: lies, subturfuge, and money-grubbing....just like the plaintiffs
107 posted on 04/17/2003 12:31:13 PM PDT by steplock ( http://www.spadata.com)
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To: Pern
johnnie cochran here we come
108 posted on 04/17/2003 12:32:25 PM PDT by cocoapuff
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To: jonathanmo
....If he hollers, let him go...

Is that your SOP for handling dangerous animals?

109 posted on 04/17/2003 12:41:34 PM PDT by gnarledmaw
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To: TexRef
LOL!
110 posted on 04/17/2003 12:41:41 PM PDT by m18436572
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To: Lijahsbubbe
"Oh please, calling someone newbie is about as grade school as you can get. Sorry I haven't been in the 'club' long enough in your estimation to have an opinion."

The only "club" you have now qualified yourself for is the one reserved for sanctimonious race-baiting goof-balls...

Say "Hi" to your kindred spirits -- Jackson, Sharpton, and Kweisi for us.

111 posted on 04/17/2003 12:42:24 PM PDT by F16Fighter (Democrats -- The Party of Stalin and Chiraq)
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To: Pern
This is...satire...right?
112 posted on 04/17/2003 1:45:25 PM PDT by Dimensio
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To: Lijahsbubbe
"And you say "thanks" to someone who posted this."

Yep. If the psychosis fits....

And you agree with these racist plunderers stating that they had a loss of sleep and memory loss due to a simple nursery rhyme?? Get real!
113 posted on 04/17/2003 3:58:54 PM PDT by PatrioticAmerican (If the only purpose of assault weapons is to kill lots of people quickly, why do police have them?)
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To: nanny
No, you don't know about her, except that she filed a suit, which you and most of the people on this thread think is frivolous.

You don't know her motives or intents. You can state your opinion, but you don't know (unless you're a mind reader).

114 posted on 04/17/2003 5:59:35 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: dead
"but I just lump them all together, because they're all leeches...

Oh well then, that makes it much better.

115 posted on 04/17/2003 6:07:10 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: ohioman
I haven't stated my opinion on the validity of the lawsuit, just responding to people claiming to know this woman's character and her intentions.

And she is within legal rights to file suit, until there is reform. The jury will decide it's frivolousness.




116 posted on 04/17/2003 6:15:36 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: BSunday
Cool.
117 posted on 04/17/2003 6:19:09 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: PatrioticAmerican
I've been real the whole thread. Why did you associate this woman with crack?
118 posted on 04/17/2003 6:35:30 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: Flightdeck
"Last election year, trial lawyers gave $15,000,000 to the democratic party and $13,500 to the republicans. It takes one to defend one."

Is this true? Can you tell me where I can verify it?

Thanks!

119 posted on 04/17/2003 6:53:34 PM PDT by auggy
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To: F16Fighter
You've got the Sharpton, Jackson et al mantra down well.

Do you really think they're the only black people in the world who would take offense to this woman being called lazy, on welfare, on crack, a thief, a blackmailer, disgusting, etc.

Do you think Colin Powell or Condoleeza Rice, would chuckle along with you, because they're conservative?

120 posted on 04/17/2003 6:55:53 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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