ROPED INTO IT?
Facing accusations of being a racist, a Watchung businessman is hanging in there with his belief that the window display at his Halloween Scene store of a man in a noose is nothing more than a prop resembling a decaying person and not that of a black man.
New Jersey store operator Robert Lap said the "Hanging Victim," manufactured by California-based First Imperial Trading Company, is just an inflatable prop to be used as a special Halloween effect.
Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, however, saw it as appalling and racist, and complained.
Jackson said she was especially concerned that the mock hanging appeared just days after protests erupted over the Jena Six, a group of six black teenagers charged with the Dec. 4, 2006 beating of a white teenager in Jena, La.
Jackson also was upset about the display's proximity to a neighboring store that sells school supplies to parents, teachers and children.
The teacher was the only person in Halloween Scene's 30 stores in New York and New Jersey to complain about it, according to Lap.
While Lap said how people perceive the display is "in the eye of the beholder," he confirmed that it would be removed from all Halloween Scene stores "for obvious reasons."
Obviously, a smart move.
New Jersey store operator Robert Lap said the "Hanging Victim," manufactured by California-based First Imperial Trading Company, is just an inflatable prop to be used as a special Halloween effect.
Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, however, saw it as appalling and racist, and complained.
Jackson said she was especially concerned that the mock hanging appeared just days after protests erupted over the Jena Six, a group of six black teenagers charged with the Dec. 4, 2006 beating of a white teenager in Jena, La.
Jackson also was upset about the display's proximity to a neighboring store that sells school supplies to parents, teachers and children.
The teacher was the only person in Halloween Scene's 30 stores in New York and New Jersey to complain about it, according to Lap.
While Lap said how people perceive the display is "in the eye of the beholder," he confirmed that it would be removed from all Halloween Scene stores "for obvious reasons."
Obviously, a smart move.
Labels: First Imperial Trading Company, Halloween Scene, The Jena Six
posted by Diana at 9:59 AM
5 Comments:
this is just plain weird.
Just put a Saddam Hussein mask on it.
or an OJ mask ..
I always find it amazing in todays world of PC and sue-happy people that one person - ONE PERSON! complained about something and immediately it has to be changed. There is no thought of "well you can't please everybody" or "what about my rights to post what I want" - nope, all someone needs to do is say a few magic phrases - mention racisim or kids - and poof, you are *required* to fix it.
Why was it "obviously a smart move"? He could have and should have just told her to stick it. Would that have been any less smart, and why?
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