What I'm about to say I hope does not come across as rude or anything but direct... I've been made aware that I have no tact and what I usually see as direct others seem to take as rude.

yes racism is why this blog was created... the ignorance of a woman who compared a stuffed toy monkey to the first black President (and she was in the wrong no matter how you look at it)  combined with the hurt of hundreds of years of stories and struggles passed down through families like it was an heirloom to be cherished that leads to nothing but resentment and anger towards people in the modern world who had nothing to do with it by people who did not experience any of it. That being said I understand some people here were actually alive during the civil rights movement, but there were many who were not and no one here was around during the days of slave trade.

I understand that there are hints & signs that you could begin to
get offended over but there's nothing specifically wrong with it. But you have to understand something... we're not talking about a charity group driving through town with a tar baby slapped on the hood, it was a stuffed monkey with mardi gras beads around it's neck, NOTHING MORE!

If it was an honest to God noose I'd agree with you. You cannot get bent out of shape every time you see a toy monkey just because ignorant people in the past represented black people with a monkey. If you cannot understand that, I suggest you stay off the stuffed animal aisle at Wal-Mart around St. Valentine's day. It's wall to wall stuffed monkeys... apparently stuffed monkeys are more popular than teddy bears.

If you have a problem with toy animals in clothes then you are just S.O.L., human beings as a species has some unexplainable desire to humanize everything we come into contact with. That's why we have toy animals in clothes, cartoon animals in clothes and people who talk to their cats like they understand them (even I'm guilty of the cat thing)

I mean seriously... we've already established that these groups are hillbilly descendants of scotch/irish immigrants and hillbillies hunt and eat raccoons. I guarantee that people would still insist it was a racial thing if it was a toy raccoon (probably less b/c I'd like to see someone compare Obama to a raccoon). Also if they wanted to be derogatory with this monkey I don't think they would have empowered it by giving it a sawed off double barreled shotgun.

But are you honestly trying to pull the "the pageant is racist because there are not more black winners" card? No... the pageant would be racist if they kept black young ladies out of it all together. As far as people on the committee let me explain something to you, it's a volunteer issue plain and simple. If you want more black people on the committee then I suggest you sign up. They don't recruit for committee members because if you don't want to be there you're not going to be of any help. That's why the committee is made of VOLUNTEERS, people who actually care and want to be a part of it. Maybe if there were more VOLUNTEERS from the black community we could get more feedback from the black community.

- Will Clifton

I would like to point out at this point that I dislike using the term "black"... however I personally find the term "African American" to be wrong. If you were born in America you're American, if you were born in Africa then get U.S. citizenship you're African American.

 I would like to commend you Speak the Truth for taking a stance that apparently others do not choose. That is the problem with both racism and percieved racism in our world today. We all have memories of things that were said to us during our life that have made an impact on us in one way or another.  It is all in how you use the knowledge that is available these days to overcome the adversity in our lives. The debate over racism could go on forever with any ethnic group out there. People are foulable, we do not always get along, that is for certain.  Personally I choose to judge people by their actions rather than their sex, color or standing in the community. If more people were to do this there would be far less trouble in the world. I think that all in all readers have learned some new information and should take advantage of it. If you are not satisfied with what is going on in your community you have to be willing to make an effort to try to change it! Get involved however you can and make a change. If that is the only good thing that is to come out of this never ending debate then it has served a very valuable purpose. So my question to everyone is this.......Are you willing to sacrifice your time to help make things better for everyone? Or are you just going to sit back and complain about how things never change without trying to help?