Early yesterday morning I was watching an old John Wayne cowboy movie on the Turner Classic movie network. The movie was called "Haunted Gold", from 1932. I was very surprised to see that John Wayne had a Black male sidekick. But anyway, besides that towards the end of the movie, the Black sidekick went back into a cabin located on top of a haunted gold mine to try to save John Wayne, who was tied up in a chair. Because he was a Black actor from the 1930's his character had to be afraid of spooks, haunts, ghost, and act like a buffoon. Then he had the nerve to put on the black see through sheet that belonged to the original person that played the phantom, who scared everyone else in the movie. Well to make a long story short, the Black actor was able to free John Wayne. After John Wayne left, the Black actor stayed back in the cabin to continue to scare the two bad guys that held John Wayne prisoner. He blew his cover by stupidly repeating, "I is the phantom, I is the phantom........". Then the two bad guys said to themselves, "why he is speaking watermelon language, he's not the phantom!" So they chased the Black actor and he fell into the haunted gold mine.
So I thought to myself, what the heck is this big joke about Black people and watermelon? It is an old 20th century and I guess 19th century joke, about watermelon and black people. As a little kid I remember the old cartoons that would have a black character with white lips eating watermelon. My mother also said there was a song when she was a child, about a little Black boy singing how much he like watermelon. But I did not get the joke then and I still don't get the joke now. I also remember an incident in Howard Beach, New York a few years ago, where Rev. Al Sharpton marched in protest of a murder of a Black man and the white people threw watermelons at him. What was that supposed to mean? Are Black people supposed to be afraid of watermelons or something? When the incident happened I even asked a white gentleman that worked in the office where I worked, who also lived in Howard Beach, what is the significance between Black people and watermelon. Why is it so funny or is it scary? He did not know the answer either.
I guess the joke then, is the same joke that there is now about Black people and fried chicken? I like watermelon and fried chicken :).
What do you think?
3 comments:
Yeah! I don't get it either. It probably stems from some slave thing. Maybe, they wouldn't give the slaves water, so that had to eat Watermelon to quench their thirst.
Maybe that's it, Tennisguy. Watermelon originally came from Africa and it is possible that it was given to the slaves in place of water.
I found something in wikipedia about Black people and watermelon. But I still don't understand the humor.
See below:
"In the 19th and early 20th centuries, African Americans often were depicted in racist caricatures as being inordinately fond of watermelon".
"The same depiction of the African American people's fondness of watermelon is used in some eastern states in Mexico. However, it's not considered racist due to the great African heritage of the people from those areas".
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