NAACP calls Hallmark graduation card racist

  • Thread starter Math Is Hard
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In summary: I don't know...time?In summary, the card has been pulled from store shelves because it has a racist greeting that is played out through a speaker on the card. The card was out for 3 years before it was brought to attention by the NAACP.
  • #1
Math Is Hard
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From the "Oh, Come on now" department...

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7475737
CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- A graduation card sold at local stores has been pulled from shelves after a civil rights group raised concerns about the content. The group claims the card's micro-speaker plays a greeting that's racist.

It is a graduation greeting from Hallmark that says, "Hey world, we are officially putting you on notice."

Members of the Los Angeles NAACP did take notice. As characters known as "Hoops" and "Yoyo" banter on, African American leaders hear offensive language.

"And you black holes, you are so ominous. Watch your back," the card vocalizes.

"That was very demeaning to African American women. When it made reference to African American women as whores and at the end, it says 'watch your back,'" said Leon Jenkins of the Los Angeles NAACP.

They were trying for an innocent galactic theme with the message.
 
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  • #2
Seems like people hearing what they want to hear, to me. Do they honestly think Hallmark would put out a card saying "black whores?" I mean, what's more likely, that they're mishearing something, or Hallmark is saying "Black whores, watch your back."
 
  • #3
Racist people tend to see (or hear in this case) racism wherever they go..
 
  • #4
I'd have never even thought to interpret that as racist until Mr Jenkins shared that peculiar interpretation.
 
  • #5
I've already mailed the LA NAACP chapter a card. :devil:

Those folks who are upset about the card seem like well meaning idiots.
 
  • #6
Somebody needs to chill.
 
  • #7
Your use of the ethnically urban word 'chill' is racist. I am so offended.
 
  • #8
When that woman said "the r is in there" I was intrigued. After all, that's a funny way to say it. "Yes, it's an L, but the R is in there". Weird. So I played it over and over. The word is hole and you can't mishear it no matter how hard you try. I even tried it on my wife. As she is Chinese she normally has trouble differentiating these two letters. However, she was able to do so effortlessly in this case. In my opinion, that woman was lying.
 
  • #9
Cyrus said:
Your use of the ethnically urban word 'chill' is racist. I am so offended.

Ha I hope you are joshing me...
 
  • #10
George Bush, and Hallmark, hates black people.
 
  • #11
Okay, but you have to admit, it was a really stupid card. The black hole comment doesn't even make sense. When something is that lame, no wonder it is taken out of context: It doesn't have one!

Yes, this whole thing ridiculous.
 
  • #12
Ivan Seeking said:
Okay, but you have to admit, it was a really stupid card. The black hole comment doesn't even make sense. When something is that lame, no wonder it is taken out of context: It doesn't have one!

A stupid hallmark card? Isn't that ... all of them?
 
  • #13
Pengwuino said:
A stupid hallmark card? Isn't that ... all of them?

#44214 was pretty good.
 
  • #14
"The card was out for 3 years" :smile:

Slow, much?
 
  • #15
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  • #16
Speaking as a black man, while I find the card silly and not funny. I am not offended in the least. I fear some NAACP local chapter heads takes their duties and themselves a bit too seriously at times.

Rob54
 
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  • #17
rob54 said:
Speaking as a black man, while I find the card silly and not funny. I am not offended in the least. I fear some NAACP local chapter heads takes their duties and themselves a bit too seriously at times.

Rob54


You called yourself black, and not African American. You sir, are a racist. I am offended.
 
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  • #18
It is clear in the article that they are pissed off by the audio not the text. We cannot do much other than speculating about how the audio sounds. I would speculate that it might an accent problem where for one it's "hole" for other it's "whore".
 
  • #19
Cyrus said:
You called yourself black, and not African American. You sir, are a racist. I am offended.

:smile::smile: What is this guy, drunk?
 
  • #20
Cyrus said:
You called yourself black, and not African American. You sir, are a racist. I am offended.

If you say so my new friend. :-)


Rob
 
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  • #21
rootX said:
It is clear in the article that they are pissed off by the audio not the text. We cannot do much other than speculating about how the audio sounds. I would speculate that it might an accent problem where for one it's "hole" for other it's "whore".

Go Google it, the video is online with the NAACP chapter folks giving a press conference. It's a bunch of old people with nothing better to do with their time.
 
  • #22
TheStatutoryApe said:
I seem to remember that the term "black hole" has been http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,380143,00.html before.

edit: and I was wondering at first what sort of weird mind it would take to equate "black hole" with "black women".

The irony is that the "black ho" expression is one predominantly used by blacks, not whites. I had never heard the expression until Buckwheat [Eddie Murphy] came along, on SNL.

When I was growing up in L.A., the expression hadn't caught on yet. I believe its origins are in Ghetto Rap, or Gangster Rap, or a similar variety of rap crap.
 
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  • #23
Cyrus said:
Go Google it, the video is online with the NAACP chapter folks giving a press conference. It's a bunch of old people with nothing better to do with their time.

Yep found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0P_XiYZl9k

nothing much in it. I didn't go beyond 40 seconds.
 
  • #24
Ah, this was it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RrQ4FWjijI
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
The irony is that the "black ho" expression is one predominantly used by blacks, not whites.
"Ho" is completely a black invented expression. I only ever heard blacks use it and I had to ask two black people what it meant: "ho" doesn't mean "whore", it means "hole". Calling a woman a "hole" is to call them a sexual orifice, meant as an insult. "Ho" is just lax pronounciation of "hole'.

An authentic whore, a prostitute, might be called a "ho" but it would be by way of insult, calling her a sexual orifice, rather than being a reference to the word "whore".
 
  • #26
I think the problem lies with the word "ominous". I don't think they know what that word means.
 
  • #27
zoobyshoe said:
"Ho" is completely a black invented expression. I only ever heard blacks use it and I had to ask two black people what it meant: "ho" doesn't mean "whore", it means "hole". Calling a woman a "hole" is to call them a sexual orifice, meant as an insult. "Ho" is just lax pronounciation of "hole'.

An authentic whore, a prostitute, might be called a "ho" but it would be by way of insult, calling her a sexual orifice, rather than being a reference to the word "whore".

hmm lol I've never heard this break down before in my life. I'm not sure if you're just poking fun at this or what.

I'm prettttty sure 'ho' isn't just a black expression, I hear people of every race use it. And it doesn't necessarily mean 'whore' (as in prostitute) it could mean like, ***** or slut... actually that's almost what it always means. Calling someone a whore while they really ARE a prostitute is a pretty rare occurance.

You can check urbandictionary if you don't believe me even, I'm sure ho or hoe will be listed in there with many definitions.
 
  • #28
leroyjenkens said:
I think the problem lies with the word "ominous". I don't think they know what that word means.

lol, are you being serious right now?
 
  • #29
Ivan Seeking said:
Okay, but you have to admit, it was a really stupid card. The black hole comment doesn't even make sense. When something is that lame, no wonder it is taken out of context: It doesn't have one!

Yes, this whole thing ridiculous.

It's an ironic comment for a graduation card. It only makes sense to those that are generally ignorant about the solar system and the rest of the cosmos.

I wonder if the controversy started with an astronomer sending an anonymous e-mail to the NCAAP after trying futilely for 3 years to get this stupid card off the market.
 
  • #30
It's a pretty stupid card I bet it doesn't even sell...
 
  • #31
lol, are you being serious right now?
Seems like "ominous" doesn't fit in the context of "black whore".

Even if it did say "black whore", are they defending black whores? Even their imagined racism isn't racist. I'd say they're grasping at straws, but that ship has sailed, too. They're starting to become parodies of themselves.
It only makes sense to those that are generally ignorant about the solar system and the rest of the cosmos.
What doesn't make sense about it?
 
  • #32
I keep my black hose in my garage. I left my hose out on the lawn in the hot sun a couple of days ago and when brought back into the garage I had really hot and kinky hose.
-
The above comment was intended to offend and at the same time not. It is an exaggerated example of why some people need to develop thicker skin. Not all comments that sound offensive are meant to be offensive. I don't see why it should be someones responsibility to have to learn the 'jive' in order to know to avoid using words that might offend someone else.
 
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  • #33
That card should be banned for the sheer awfulness of it, but NAACP is a joke. I bet those guys weren't crying racism when they got extra money for school just for not being white...
 
  • #34
zomgwtf said:
hmm lol I've never heard this break down before in my life. I'm not sure if you're just poking fun at this or what.
Not poking fun. That whole explanation was serious.

I'm prettttty sure 'ho' isn't just a black expression, I hear people of every race use it.
It's a black invented term. Originally black street slang. 25-35 years ago only black people used it. And that's about the time Eddie Murphy started using it on Saturday Nite Live. Whoever uses it now is immaterial to which group originated it. Slang spreads.

And it doesn't necessarily mean 'whore' (as in prostitute) it could mean like, ***** or slut... actually that's almost what it always means. Calling someone a whore while they really ARE a prostitute is a pretty rare occurance.
The point is, the exact nature of the insult in calling someone a "ho" is that you're calling them a sexual orifice. Just like the exact nature of the insult when you call someone a b***h is that you're likening them to a female dog. The exact nature of the insult when you call someone a bastard is that you're saying they were born out of wedlock, i.e. probably the result of poor breeding.

You can check urbandictionary if you don't believe me even, I'm sure ho or hoe will be listed in there with many definitions.

When it come to this term, consider me the equivalent of the Urban OED: the best source of the history of the term's usage you're going to find at PF.

In 1981 I was in a play about a halfway house for "troubled teens". Half the cast was black. This term came up in a discussion backstage one day, and it came out that the white cast members thought it meant "whore". The black cast members vehemently and explicitly corrected us. "Not 'hoah', w-h-o-r-e: 'ho'; h-o-l-e," one girl said, spelling the difference letter by letter.

If Hispanic and White 'ganstas" are now using it interchangably with "whore" it's because they, too, misunderstood the original "ebonics" accent. In ebonics "whore" would be something like "hoah", two syllables, the "r" sound rendered as "ah". In ebonics "hole" becomes "ho".

When I asked the black kids the significance of calling a girl a "hole" one said, "You sayin' they ain't nothin' but one big sex hole (and here she illustrated by pointing at her crotch); good for nuthin' but sex." And the other black kids concurred.
 
  • #35
zoobyshoe said:
When I asked the black kids the significance of calling a girl a "hole" one said, "You sayin' they ain't nothin' but one big sex hole (and here she illustrated by pointing at her crotch); good for nuthin' but sex." And the other black kids concurred.

Maybe things changed but my girlfriend is black and so are all her friends. They don't talk like that, not at all.

Anyways I don't see where the discrepency is, the word STILL means a slut, or a girl who is more promiscuous. (sometimes ***** etc.) Just the same way the 'whore' means that too. If a person calls someone a 'whore' they HARDLY ever mean prostitute. Actually sometimes it even just means a 'girl' guys refer to them as 'bitches and hoes' but that has no meaning to if they actually are a ***** or promiscuous.

Just like if someone called a guy a 'ho-monga' that doesn't mean that the guy is a pimp, or he has sex with a lot of 'easy' girls. It just means he's with a lot of girls. period.
 

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