These are two things that may have slipped under the collective radar. I even missed this first clip on some of my usual blogs. But granted I was out during the summer when my laptop decided to go on the fritz. So here it is and yes, he went there with it.
After watching that clip, I can’t help but further begin to question the underlying racialisation of said President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan and how perhaps what would have been normal protesting of policies have now taken on a racial quality that otherwise would not have been there. And naturally, emotions are raw when it comes to issues of race. Just as Older Woman commented on a previous blog that she’s been receiving emails that have alleged all types of falsities and mistruths that all cultural and racially tinged attacks on Obama’s person.
It’s this type of foolishness that makes it okay for people to send out awful emails or to walk around with protest signs that don’t just attack policies but attack race and culture. Perhaps in this particular day and age, this type of rhetoric allows for Watermelon Soda to be sold in a Target in Harlem. Check out the following clip:
Post racial my ass!
Just wanted to bring all of this to your attention.
Keep it uppity and keep it truthfully radical, JLL
Joshua Lawrence Lazard 
I was not aware of this product. From googling ‘watermelon cola Harlem NY’, here’s what came up:
This product has been around since 2007 and is made by :
Product of Cawy Bottling Co., Inc.
Company established in Cuba 1948.
Cawy Bottling Co., Inc.
2440 NW 21st Terrace
Miami, FL 33142
FL Tel. 305-634-8669
Toll Free 877-917-2299
Fax 305-634-2291
Notify them of your disapproval of this product.
On the web: http://www.cawy.net
Employees: 50
Cawy Bottling manufactures fruit-flavored soft drinks such as Jupiña, Materva, and Coco Solo. Its products are distributed throughout the US, Canada, Spain, and Central America. The company, originally established in Cuba in 1948, moved to the US in the 1960s as a result of the island’s takeover by Fidel Castro. Cawy’s first introduction to the US market was Cawy Lemon Lime. The company soon expanded to offer other fruit-flavored drinks and herbal enhanced drinks such as yerba mate soda.
Key numbers for fiscal year ending December, 2008:
Sales: $5.8M
Officers:
President, CFO, and General Manager: Carbonated Beverages
Competitors:
Coca-Cola
Goya
PepsiCo
The Target in NY removed the product.
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IMO, Glenn Beck is dangerously unhinged. Despite this, his followers seem to feel that he is a ‘golden’ leader of sorts. They are disparate, though they are not the majority. Change happens.
Seriously,
Lord have mercy on all of us.
What is on the other side of the can is that a white kid? An Asian? Really hard to tell from the video. Does that make it any better or worse that there is a person of another race on the can as well?
I think obvious issue is that they are selling it in Harlem.
@ jason
It’s a white kid.
For me it’s not about the kid eating watermelon–or fried chicken for that matter–but that someone still thought it was okay to make a caricature of a black person via black face. This wasn’t a political cartoon that clearly has a point to make, but rather some sort of advertisement–just wrong on so many levels.
Okay I know the imagery is effed up, but damn watermelon soda just sounds good, maybe with some ice and a shot of a nice vodka. I grew up in rural NC, so I have spent my fair share of time spitting melon seeds, and wiping watermelon juice from my face.
@ atypicalwhiteguy
Yeah, and watermelon candy and popsicles are quite tasty, but the image used to promote it is unconscionable. Especially given the fact that it’s just a wrong stereotype–as if blacks are the only ones that eat watermelon. I mean, watermelon is a staple of a fruit salad and fruit trays world wide.
Went to the website it’s owned and operated by a family who fled cuba.
@ atypicalwhiteguy
Are you talking about the allthingsharlem.com website or another one?
It is not just Beck – but Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Fox News, Michael Savage, Right Wings Columnists and the like who are racializing health care and every issue. I have never seen a collective group of people so obsessed with race and white’s being oppressed by claims of racism. See what they do: http://www.stupidrightwingers.com
Even if this is a bit OT, it seems that Michael Moore cartoon clip from Bowling for Columbine, bears reflection (again) in light of the fauxnews fever Tea Parties.
If the link does not work, google Michael Moore Bowling for Columbine cartoon segment.