Not Content With Subtle Racism Against Obama, Georgia Rises to the Occasion

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Curious George publisher may sue over T-shirt
Cobb bar selling shirts combining book character's picture, Obama's name

By JAMIE GUMBRECHT, CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/13/08

The publishing company that owns the Curious George image says it is considering legal action to stop the sale of a T-shirt depicting Barack Obama as the monkey from children's books.

The T-shirts are being peddled by Marietta bar owner Mike Norman at his Mulligan's Bar and Grill in Cobb County. They show a picture of Curious Georgie peeling a banana, with the words "Obama '08" underneath.

Rick Blake, a spokesman for publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which owns Curious George, said Wednesday that the company didn't authorize the use of the character's image, but hasn't been in touch with anybody selling or manufacturing the shirts.

"We find it offensive and obviously utterly out of keeping with the value Curious George represents," Blake said. "We're monitoring the situation and weighing our options with respect to legal action."

Norman has said he got the T-shirts from someone in Arkansas. He started selling them at his bar -- known for the provocative, ultra-conservative political slogans often posted on signs out front -- in April but said he has no plans to mass market them.

The sales came to light this week when a loose coalition of local groups called a protest of the T-shirts.

About a dozen protestors rallied against the shirts Tuesday afternoon, condemning them as racist and asking Norman to stop selling them.

Norman acknowledged the imagery's Jim Crow roots but said he sees nothing wrong with depicting a prominent African-American as a monkey.

"We're not living in the (19)40's," he said. "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears -- he looks just like Curious George."

Marietta native Pam Lindley, 47, joined Tuesday's protest after reading about the controversy.

"I don't want people to think this is what Marietta is all about," she added, motioning towards the tavern. "This is what some people think the South is still like. Marietta's come a long way but I guess it's still got a little ways to go."

She said she'd like to see the city ban Norman's provocative musings regularly posted on a sign out front of the bar, which is near Marietta's downtown square. Those who gathered Tuesday say they will continue their campaign against Norman's "hate speech."

But his defenders are just as resolute. Mulligan's is a refuge, they say, in an otherwise hypersensitive world. Smoking isn't only allowed at the bar, it's expected.

"This place is a diamond in the rough," said Gene McKinley, a Woodstock engineer among the patrons Tuesday. "People here are genuine and honest. It's the one place I can go without having to worry if I'm offending someone."

Norman said he fielded calls throughout Tuesday about his T-shirts. An ajc.com story about the controversy was picked up on the Drudge Report. "One guy in New Jersey wanted me to send him 100 shirts," said Norman, 63.

He said he noted physical similarities between the Democratic frontrunner and the cartoon monkey while watching a Curious George movie with his grandchildren.

Someone -- "probably a customer, I don't know" -- from Arkansas sent him the shirts, Norman said.

The Tennessee native said he's providing a public service of sorts, reminding people they have a right to offend.

"This is my marketing tool," he said.
Click to expand...

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/05/13/mulligans_0514.html

image7051381uj5.jpg
 
Virginia wants some of that racist action:

Tar baby?
In a 20-page memo on GOP electoral woes, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) repeatedly misspells Barack Obama’s name – it’s one R, congressman, not two -- and then manages to use the racially charged term “tar baby” in a paragraph about Obama and immigration.

“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']Virginia wants some of that racist action:

Tar baby?
In a 20-page memo on GOP electoral woes, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) repeatedly misspells Barack Obama’s name – it’s one R, congressman, not two -- and then manages to use the racially charged term “tar baby” in a paragraph about Obama and immigration.

“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”[/QUOTE]

I don't think most people consider "tar baby" as a racially charged term. I certainly never considered it to have anything to do with race until it came up in a previous topic on this board. I had always thought it was just a way to describe a sticky situation.
 
[quote name='usickenme']You can't possibly that naive elprincipe...[/QUOTE]

Haven't heard from you in a while. IIRC quite a few people in a thread many moons ago on this term said the same thing. Before that point in time I'd never heard of it being used in regards to race.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']Haven't heard from you in a while. IIRC quite a few people in a thread many moons ago on this term said the same thing. Before that point in time I'd never heard of it being used in regards to race.[/QUOTE]

Well, it has racist origins, but it doesn't have what I'd consider racist connotations to *most* people today, much like "red-headed stepchild." I'm not surprised that you've never come across it in that way. Of course, it's not the most common term, so one has to wonder at its cropping up in this context. I'm reminded of the scene in the "Wild Wild West" movie where Will Smith and Kenneth Branagh greet each other seemingly cordially, but actually using slurs back and forth.

Dr. Arliss Loveless: Mister West! How nice of you to join us tonight and add COLOR to these monochromatic proceedings!

Capt. James West: Well when a fella comes back from the dead, I find that an occasion to STAND UP and be counted!

Dr. Arliss Loveless: Miss East informs me that you were expectin' to see General McGrath here. Well, I knew him years ago, but I haven't seen him in a COON's age!

Capt. James West: Well, I can see where it'd be difficult for a man of your stature to keep in touch with even HALF the people you know.

Dr. Arliss Loveless: Well, perhaps the lovely Miss East will keep you from bein' a SLAVE to your disappointment!

Capt. James West: Well, you know beautiful women; they encourage you one minute, and CUT THE LEGS OUT from under you the next!
 
To weigh in, I've actually never heard the term "tar baby" before.

Not knowing a thing about I can see it having both racial and non-racial meanings. Tar is black, but it makes sense used in the "sticky situation" meaning as well.

Still, that is not what this thread is about. It's about Obama being portrayed as a monkey. Surely, nobody would argue that referring to a black person as a monkey is a not racial slur. Well...probably some regs of the vs. boards would, but I'm not going to name names.

Either way it's despicable and this dumbfuck hillbilly is probably doing more to help Obama than hurt him. You think he is stealing any votes from him considering the bar he runs and the racists that patronize it?

I feel sorry for people like the woman mentioned in this story, who would love to live in a "South" free from the shackles of racism and injustice. Unfortunately it evidently is not that way yet. They still have a lot of backward racist hicks doing shit like this that gets a lot of attention. They're racism is their own worst enemy. It's awful, they're shooting themselves, their neighbor, and their state in the foot.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']Surely, nobody would argue that referring to a black person as a monkey is a racial slur.[/QUOTE]

You have, I hope, accidentally omitted a crucial "not" from this sentence.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']You have, I hope, accidentally omitted a crucial "not" from this sentence.[/quote]

No way dude, "monkey" is not a racial slur!!

Ha ha, j/k, I fixed it. Oops.

BTW, I can't help be reminded of whatshisname's attempt to "take 'porch monkey' back" from Clerks 2. That was a hilarious sequence.
 
Actually I asked a couple people about this today and they had heard of it, and confirmed its status as a racial slur. One even described it as second behind the N-word in terms of offensiveness. So perhaps I've led a sheltered life, at least in this regard. Not that I've ever used the term in casual conversation that I can recall, but at least this episode has prevented me from possibly committing a social faux pas.
 
To comment on the original story, I recall a shirt that a gal at my high school used to wear. It had a picture of Curious George sitting on a hooker's lap and on the back said "Spank the Monkey." We always wondered why the school didn't make her change it, but would send anyone home to change if they had a shirt advertising beer or cigarettes (anyone old enough to remember Camel Joe?).

I wonder what Scholastic would think of that.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']Virginia wants some of that racist action:

Tar baby?
In a 20-page memo on GOP electoral woes, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) repeatedly misspells Barack Obama’s name – it’s one R, congressman, not two -- and then manages to use the racially charged term “tar baby” in a paragraph about Obama and immigration.

“Remember,” Davis writes, “Hispanic voters are a swing group in this election and future elections. John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barrack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus, this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere.”[/quote]

Misspelling his name isn't necessarily racially charged. My first name is Markus, with a "k". People misspell it all the time with a "c". these are people I send e-mails to with my correct spelling and are of the same race as myself. Granted, Obama is much more important than I am, but Barack is an uncommon name. Heck, my nephew's name is Barak with no "c".

[quote name='elprincipe']I don't think most people consider "tar baby" as a racially charged term. I certainly never considered it to have anything to do with race until it came up in a previous topic on this board. I had always thought it was just a way to describe a sticky situation.[/quote]

The problem is that while Davis wasn't using it in regards to Obama personally, "tar baby" is known more for its use as a racial slur and not a "sticky situation", just like in america gay is more known as a word for homosexuality and not happiness. Or $$$$ardly sounding like something entirely different...

http://www.adversity.net/special/nggardly.htm (place an "i" between the "n" and "g" to see a story of how someone got fired)

There was another politician who tried to use tar baby in a benign way, but I can't remember who it was.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']I don't think most people consider "tar baby" as a racially charged term. I certainly never considered it to have anything to do with race until it came up in a previous topic on this board. I had always thought it was just a way to describe a sticky situation.[/quote]
I'm mostly the same way. 'Til recently, a tar baby was the thing the fox used to trap Briar Rabbit so he could eat him.
 
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