Under pressure for his sending an email photo depicting a watermelon patch at the White House, Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grouse is resigning, the LA Times reported today.
Grouse sent the email from his personal account. It was a photo of the White House with a watermelon patch superimposed over the lawn. The caption read, "No Easter egg hunt this year."
Well, a truly tasteless joke, to be sure, but should it have cost him his job? Are we at the point where our politicians can't do anything stupid or tasteless without it resulting in their immediate unemployment? I didn't think the photo was funny: it was a crass depiction of a racial stereotype. But was it hate speech? I heard my share of jokes from Don Rickles and Bobby Slayton when I was younger (not to mention repeats of those jokes from my dad ad nauseum), but we have got to stop thinking that telling such jokes is a sign that a person actually believes the sentiments expressed in the jokes.
It's not like my "monkey lovers" example from my previous post. After my post I saw additional posts of hers on Facebook that confirm for me that she truly hates black people.
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