Firefighter fired over a gifted watermelon

[Bert.]

 

[joe billionaire]

That ****in sucks at 41 he was all happy to finally get the job he wanted

 

[adobecs4]

Don't think I would personally be offended by it. But why a watermelon?

 

[AEA18]

He knew what he was doing.

Hate when racist folks play stupid and pretend to not understand their offensive actions.

 

[ahat]

Don't think I would personally be offended by it. But why a watermelon?

Probably cuz its a larger fruit so more to share?


Agreed tho pretty strange gift to bring.

Only place id ever think to bring a watermelon is a cookout on a hot summer day. Otherwise im not even really thinking about watermelon like that.

Shoulda brought a marble rye

 

[Teknoman]

He knew what he was doing.

Hate when racist folks play stupid and pretend to not understand their offensive actions.

Exactly. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Could have easily bought a million other gifts.

 

[iYen]

I need to know if he had tools to cut and share it with his coworkers before I can deem this as racist.
My coworker bought me popeyes 2 eweeks ago, wasn't offended.

 

[Mister Mon]

He knew exactly what he was doing. Who gifts a watermelon?

 

[tego calderon el abayarde]

Should have brought a bottle of Crown/Henny and some victory cigars.

 

[Bert.]

What if he didn’t meet his coworkers before hand? Could have thought majority of his coworkers were white?

 

[Jimmy Two Times]

Better than a fruit cake. I say give the guy the benefit of the doubt. It's not like you can prove it was racially motivated. Everyone loves watermelon.

 

[isco]

he even added a pink bow..insult to injury

 

[EddieDoyers]

That’s just stupid what he did. A lot of people have no common sense and respect these days.

 

[EddieDoyers]

Better than a fruit cake. I say give the guy the benefit of the doubt. It's not like you can prove it was racially motivated. Everyone loves watermelon.

Dawg no one gives watermelon as a gift. You gotta be either real stupid or a troll to do something like that.

 

[picasso swerve]

That’s just stupid what he did. A lot of people have no common sense and respect these days.

Exactl. Even if he had good intentios he shoudve known the racial undertones that could have been taken from that gesture.

 

[ninjahood]

he should sue, he'd win.

 

[joe billionaire]

That’s just stupid what he did. A lot of people have no common sense and respect these days.

Lol what?

Firefighters live in 4 days out of the week don’t they? Watermelon a big piece of fruit that will last a couple days and your able to share it

People are stu heads these days...I’m Mexican do you see me crying about taco Tuesdays

 

[ninjahood]

Dawg no one gives watermelon as a gift

i hate watermelon btw...

 

[ahat]

Blocked for hating watermelon

 

[AEA18]

Don't know if y'all dudes are being sarcastic or not.
After reading these replies it looks like y'all don't know.

Read and learn why that former firefighter was wrong.

But the stereotype that African Americans are excessively fond of watermelon emerged for a specific historical reason and served a specific political purpose. The trope came into full force when slaves won their emancipation during the Civil War. Free black people grew, ate, and sold watermelons, and in doing so made the fruit a symbol of their freedom. Southern whites, threatened by blacks’ newfound freedom, responded by making the fruit a symbol of black people’s perceived uncleanliness, laziness, childishness, and unwanted public presence. This racist trope then exploded in American popular culture, becoming so pervasive that its historical origin became obscure. Few Americans in 1900 would’ve guessed the stereotype was less than half a century old.

It may seem silly to attribute so much meaning to a fruit. And the truth is that there is nothing inherently racist about watermelons. But cultural symbols have the power to shape how we see our world and the people in it, such as when police officer Darren Wilson saw Michael Brown as a superhuman “demon.” These symbols have roots in real historical struggles—specifically, in the case of the watermelon, white people’s fear of the emancipated black body. Whites used the stereotype to denigrate black people—to take something they were using to further their own freedom, and make it an object of ridicule. It ultimately does not matter if someone means to offend when they tap into the racist watermelon stereotype, because the stereotype has a life of its own.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/12/how-watermelons-became-a-racist-trope/383529/

Thomas Edison (Yes the inventor of the light bulb) perpetuated this stereotype with a film he made of a watermelon eating contest.

Edison’s company invented the kinetoscope, an early motion picture device you would look into through a peephole viewer. Edison recorded images of the first African Americans on the silver screen. They are depicted in this short film devouring watermelon like a school of sharks eating its prey. The men are very dark in complexion and eventually start to sabotage the efforts of each others consumption by pulling the fruit away their competitors mouths. Prebula says that—combined with other derogatory films that have followed it—has been ingrained in our mind that Black folks love watermelon. Statistically, Asian Americans and Hispanics actually consume more watermelon than African Americans.

A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated that African Americans eat less watermelon than most other races, and that White Americans consume the most. Yet, historically African Americans have been the most closely associated with the fruit.

http://ourweekly.com/news/2014/feb/20/chicken-and-watermelon-fabricated-history/?page=2

 

[Ja's 2¢]

He knew what he was doing. The article says that firehouse is 90% black.

 

[ninjahood]

Blocked for hating watermelon

never was my cup of tea

 

[EddieDoyers]

Lol what?

Firefighters live in 4 days out of the week don’t they? Watermelon a big piece of fruit that will last a couple days and your able to share it

People are stu heads these days...I’m Mexican do you see me crying about taco Tuesdays

What does taco Tuesdays have to do with this? Don’t be this obtuse.
You don’t just go to a mostly black fire department and be like “hey guys I heard you love watermelon” as an introduction.

 

[Jimmy Two Times]

What kind of sick **** doesn't like watermelon ?

Seedless watermelon

 

[ninjahood]

He knew what he was doing. The article says that firehouse is 90% black.

so his intention was to get fired? ehhh lol.

ya can't read a man's heart till ya at least know all da facts.

he definitely should've wrote out a endearing card just to make it completely innocuous.