I’m a Black Woman Who Eats Watermelon

And there’s nothing wrong with that

Photo Source: Watermelon.org

At last night’s racist rally (I mean Trump rally), a comic made the crude joke that his Black friend was “carving up watermelons.” I'm sick and tired of White people associating the wonderful fruit with a negative conatations towards Black people. I know a lot of Black people who eat watermelon. But I know a lot of people of other racial backgrounds who enjoy the fruit as well. Why make it a racial stereotype?

To understand the minds of White people and watermelon, you have to go back in time. Here is some historical information about Black people, White people, and watermelon:

Watermelon

Photo Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Before it became a racist stereotype in the Jim Crow era, watermelon once symbolized self-sufficiency among African Americans. Following Emancipation, many Southern African Americans grew and sold watermelons, and it became a symbol of their freedom. Many Southern whites reacted to this self-sufficiency by turning the fruit into a symbol of poverty. Watermelon came to symbolize a feast for the “unclean, lazy and child-like.” To shame black watermelon merchants, popular ads and ephemera, including postcards…