In light of the racial tensions now gripping the country, one Florida couple’s poor judgment in their choice of lawn ornament was, shall we say, a bit off-color.
For whatever reason, the husband and wife team thought it was okay to display a statue of a “black boy fishing” in their front yard.
Naturally, their crass take on white privilege made a lot of people hoppin’ mad!
The passive-aggressive display by the insensitive couple was definitely misplaced given the current George Floyd climate.
What really choked people up was the braided rope, which looked like a noose, that had been purposely tied around his neck.
Retaliation against the unnamed duo went full-throttle after Twitter user @Geo Stackz posted a photo of the tasteless lawn ornament, along with the address of the house it was being held prisoner at.
Cape Coral , FL. I’m disgusted ! 2605 nw 15th pl .. Twitter do your thing. pic.twitter.com/8COmjC59El
— Geo Stackz (@GeoStackz17) June 2, 2020
An anonymous hero, or lawbreaker, depending on who you ask, used the information gleaned on social media to unleash a tornado of mischief and destruction.
Under the cover of night (or day, the details aren’t clear), the sneaky perpetrator(s) egged the home and sent the racist lawn ornament straight to tarnation with the help of Thor’s mighty hammer.
@Flight_Team_24 on Twitter drove by the house and took a picture of the statue before it was destroyed, and had this to say:
“Yo I work for the city and I see/ pass by it every day, as a black man I can only assume that the reason he has it there is because he wants someone to do something about it.”
The elderly couple, who have not been named by local media, claims that the “black kid fishing statue is a family heirloom of more than 50 years” and they meant no harm.
However, actions always speak louder than words, and their behavior certainly seems to be rooted in racial intolerance.
Because who in their right mind slips a rope around a statue of a black boy and ties it to a pole?!
The couple had an explanation for that, too – it was to keep him from falling over into the grass.
@TheOnlyMcKee disagrees, and notes that the placement of the adjacent lawnchair points to a more nefarious purpose:
“And he’s got his own mf chair set up too like he’s going to sit around and wait…”
Even if the couple is innocent of foul intentions, it was still very insensitive of them to display the statue in public, especially since the country is currently protesting for awareness on human rights issues.
But, instead of turning this story into another example of how hatred runs rampant in this country, let’s take the thunder away from this brain-dead couple and use it as an opportunity to explore the secret history behind the “black lawn jockey.”
It’s important for everyone to know that their public display could have played a pivotal role in saving black lives in the early part of the 19th century!
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According to The Washington Post’s treatise on black lawn jockeys, In a Simple Lawn Ornament, Echoes of Slavery, Revolution, these statues are a “holdover from the days of slavery and Jim Crow, an artifact of racial prejudice alongside Aunt Jemima.”
To the untrained eye, these blackface statues speak of a not-so-bygone era of racial inequality.
But, it turns out that our assumptions about the nature of these statues are not always correct.
According to some historians, this interesting piece of Americana may have been an important marker on the Underground Railroad!
The network of people, safe houses and secret routes that helped fugitive slaves escape to the north was one of the finest examples of how our country (and Canadians) came together to give the big fat finger to slavery.
Even though it was done in secret, some elements of the Underground Railroad were hidden in plain sight.
That’s where the “black jockey holding a lantern” comes into play as a glorious beacon of light.
To be clear, this is not the same statue the Florida couple had in their yard, and by no means is this information meant to defend their seriously questionable actions.
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“People who don’t know the history of the jockey have feelings of humiliation and anger when they see the statue.”
According to historian and author Charles Blockson, who is the curator of the Afro-American Collection at Temple University in Philadelphia, the colors the lawn jockeys wore had different meanings.
A green ribbon tied to the arm supposedly meant safety, while red told the person to keep on truckin’.
The color of their tailcoats and whether or not they had stripes on their jersey also held different meanings. Blockson told the Chicago Tribune that:
“…this figure, which was sometimes used in a clandestine nature, and sometimes without the knowledge of the person who owned the statue, was a positive and supportive image to African-Americans on the road to freedom.”
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Critics point out that slaves would have traveled at night when they couldn’t see the colors, and therefore the color theory is pure bunk.
However, that wouldn’t have stopped the color-coded statues from being used as a communication tool during daylight hours.
Slaves could have been told pertinent information ahead of time by other members of the Underground Railroad, who scouted ahead for them.
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Most people who own these caricature black-faced lawn ornaments don’t know their history. Some of them find them at a flea market and think they’re cute, while others use them as a vehicle to spread the hatred in their hearts.
Regardless of other people’s intentions, the next time you see a black lawn jockey holding a lantern, don’t give a second thought to why the homeowner has it in their yard.
Instead, use it as a reminder to celebrate the good things that our country has done in the past, like building the Underground Railroad.
Because as we all know, history has that crazy way of repeating itself.
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