I don't get it. Tell me what is wrong with the picture of the kid eating watermelon. I ate watermelon 5 weeks ago, and wouldn't have had a problem with someone taking my picture. The only thing I can see, is that the kid happens to be black. Is that what you are saying that is wrong with the picture? If so, that is so wrong. It shouldn't matter a person's race, watermelon is watermelon, and it's a juicy delecious fruit. You, on the other hand, are just fruity.

The writer did a very poor job in conveying a message. Since she called the child "beautiful", I can only suspect that Felita Donell hates watermelons.

I expect these children were trilled to have their picture in the paper. Its a damn shame that, someone can fault in this. The only thing wrong with this, I did not get a slice.

Shame on you Ms. Donnell! It is people like you who play "the race card" and try to make something out of nothing. It is absolutely ridiculous to assume that there was any intention other than to show a child trying to beat the heat and enjoy a piece of watermelon. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill and get over yourself.

Oh the horror of the N&R, subtly using this innocent child in their goal perpetuating racism throughout the Piedmont Triad. Where's Skip Alston on this? Skip, you there? We need to have a protest, call Jesse Jackson for one of those "We shall overcome" rallies. We need a Truth & Reconciliation panel on black kids eating watermelon, fried chicken too. What's next N&R, a picture of a white kid eating a saltine cracker?

ms.Donnell is attempting to paint all of us with her 'colored' brush. when you keep picking at the scab....it continues to bleed. when we walk by sight, we place great limitations on ourselves. the picture i see conjures up memories of when i was a small child and transports me to a more gentle time.
i would very much like to know 'what message' she belives is being conveyed. if she is trying to claim stereotyping, then i fear she is only promulgating same.

I just don't even know what to say about this writer's opinion. I can only assume they thought this poor little black girl was being exploited, and that the N&R was using the old cliché about black people and watermelon.

I must be naive, because I see a little cutie going to town on something she obviously likes.

But, then again I am white, so maybe I just don't "get it". Yeah right!

Equal rights people, not special rights. Would the writer have been bothered if the child was white? I don't think so!

OH MY GOSH!!! GET A GRIP, GET A LIFE AND GET OVER IT!!!!!!!! IT IS A PICUTURE, IT IS A CHILD, IT IS A WATERMELON....GROW UP!!!!!!!

Oh come ON. It's a pic of a child enjoying watermelon. Geeeze, get a life Felita.
As a photographer in my other life, I think I know a good shot when I see one. That is a very good shot.
Can I safely assume that if it were a picture of a white child eating watermelon then Felita would not of even looked twice at that picture? Hmmmmm.. makes ya wonder don't it?

Oh My God! I just looked on the Sports page and saw a picture of a black man with a basketball!!
How dare the N&R to show racist pictures like that!

OK, now I'm hungry. If anybody's going to the store, please bring me some watermelon. Seedless, though. It's not ladylike to spit.

The mindless paranoia continues. Racists at the N&R lurk around every corner! And we wonder why we have problems among the races. Unbelievable.

Way to go Ms. Donnell, you let Tony Moschetti look reasonable. Never been done before.

Lighten up, lady.

Thats it. From now on only white children may eat and enjoy watermellon!!!! Felit Donnel you are the only true bigot here.

Hey something we all finally agree on! You in Yallerdawg?

Maybe some of this hypersensitivity is the result of the N&R constantly reminding us about how racist we are?

I think we need to appoint a "Truth and Reconciliation Committee" to get to the bottom of this watermelon incident!

If the NR is going to be racial regarding watermelons, please let it be known that races of all type buy and sell watermelons in this state.

Last year on my way to the beach I drove out into a field were the Mexican farm hands were picking and tossing the melons into a truck.

"Senior, Que cuantas por uno?"

Dos dollares!

"SI"!

Hand picked and handed to me through the car window. Best watermelon I've ever had.

To quote Martin Luther King,

I have a dream when a picture of a little girl eating a watermelon, is just a picture of a little girl eating a watermelon........

I'm still trying to find the watermelon seed on the little girl's nose. I think the writer is seeing things!!

Amen Marshall, Amen.

Mark, they didn't see anything except the wart on the end of their long pious nose or perhaps some "brown stuff" garnered while trying to suck up to another PC agenda.

Missy, spittin seeds is part of the fun of eating watermelon. You mean you never spit watermelon seeds while the juice dripped down off you chin and ran across your bare belly? The fun part followed when you got hosed down with the waterhose so you wouldn't get sticky all over momma's or grandma's kitchen. Course we didn't have enough water pressure for a waterin down with the hose so we just jumped in the creek, clothes and all.

Of course those were kinder and gentler times without the overseers of the PC police.

What is wrong with eating and enjoying watermelon? It's a great summertime treat.

I personally like a little salt on mine.

"You mean you never spit watermelon seeds while the juice dripped down off you chin and ran across your bare belly?"

Mr. P., I'm quite sure that you didn't mean to imply that I'd ever even considered eating watermelon (or any other of God's lovely fruits) while partially nekkid. I mean, I never...

Aww heck Missy , you don't understand. As a kid, eatin watermelon with your summer time skimpy clads on is a whole different thing. Being "naked" like that means ya don't got any or much clothes on and ya just being a kid.

Being "nekkid" means ya ain't got no clothes on an ya up to something. Never thought about eatin watermelon "nekkid", but chocolate and whipped cream with cherries come to mind.

I was wondering why Felita Donnell was picking on the watermeons?

as a black person, i would like to ask ms. donell, "so how many watermelon did you eat as a child?"

you aren't a happy person are you? are you still waiting for that "reparations" check in the mail?

do you have a life of your own or are you planning on being a racial activist for the greater good of "anti-white people" ideals?

I looked at the picture and my first thought was of people like you who salivate over being able bite the ankles of everyone to get attention. how about we get a picture of you with some champagne, caviar and patté...would that make you feel better?

Having been a free-lance photographer at one time, I know I had to secure a signed release from the person or guardian of that person (if a minor) before I could use a photo of a person.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would imagine this policy also applies to the N&R photographers. If this is the case, then this cutie little girl's parent/guardian would have had to sign such a release.

Regardless, Felita Donnell needs to get a life!

Mr. P., Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

And "skimpy clads" is my new favorite term.

Ya like that huh? What other way is there to go in the summer. Here for me it's cutoffs, sandles,or tennis shoes A tee shirt is on reserve but only if going to town or to one of the nearby "mater fields to pick a few juicy, red, ripe maters inorder to make me a "mater and mayo slamwich which is about as messy to eat as watermelon.

So here's to "skimpy clads" for all.

Sorry to dissapoint Dan but I only see a little girl enjoying watermelon. Mr. P. all my cousins used to eat melon, sans shirt, followed by a good hosing down by our grandpaw. What a sweet memory. I can, however, appreciate Felita,s sesitivity given the N&R's record on race over the years.

Dang Yallar, you can say something worth while and that makes some sense. I plumb proud of you. Wasn't getting all that juice running down your bare chest and tummy and having watermelon juice from ear to ear, great fun, not to mention delicious? Yea, the water hose treatment was fun when we were somewhere that had enough preasure for a hose. Spring fed and cisterns didn't offer much water preasure to make it fun but it did get us un-stickied. hahhahahha. Girl cousins too at an early age up to about 6 or 7 didn't coverup either during watermelon eatin time ceptin when the "preacher" was going to be present.

Glad we can finally agree on something Yaller, all I see is a kid eating a watermelon. Glad you & MrP love the stuff so much. For the record, I don't really care for the texture of it, but my wife & kids love it and we have some growing in the garden at this very moment.

Dan, I will be down for dessert as soon as they are ripe and ready for pickin and chilled down. Put a salt shaker along side of mine please?

What variety are the melons Dan. We use to raise some medium sized ones which had a very dark skin on them and were almost perfectly round. We called them cannonball melons. MMMMM those suckers were sweet.

Felita Donnell poses a good question:

"Do I have to say a thousand words about the picture of the children....?"

No, Felita. You didn't have to say anything. And I wish you hadn't. The picture above was pure and sweet. It is YOUR racist mindset that creates the bad message. "Certain segments of the population"? God, the fact that you used this picture of a sweet little girl eating fruit and turned it into something ugly speaks volumes about where your heart is.

Instead of tiptoeing around the subject, why don't you just come out and say what you mean?

I think the fact that you got everyone that comments on this blog to disagree with you (thereby agreeing with one another) is proof enough that you are WAY off base on this one.

Did anybody catch the Joh McCutcheon show sponsored by the library a few weeks back? He did an audience participation song dedicated to the watermelon--he even prefaced the song saying he was going to sing about everybody's favorite summertime treat, asking if the audience knew what he was referring to--of course, *everybody* screamed WATERMELON!! Anyway--the audience participation part involved everybody joining in and supplying the slurping sound followed by the spitting sound. And, the blacks sitting to one side of me seemed to be enjoying it every bit as much as the white folks on the other side of me and the Hispanic family behind me (I swear--those were the seating arrangements--I'm not trying to recreate a Wee Pals episode here!).
Anyway, I can't begin to fathom how this lady saw this as a racist picture. She's probably the same type who, seeing a woman breastfeeding her baby would declare it to be pornography... Ask your doctor, Ms. Donnell--I'm sure there's got to be some type of medication out there to calm you down.

Oh yeah-- I know it's early in the week here, but I don't think anything for the remainder can top seeing folks like Dan/Mr.Produce et al and Yellowdog *agreeing* on something. Truly a *beautiful* moment. I swear, I could feel myself getting choked up there for a moment while perusing the above commentary! Maybe Ms. Donnell could start posting to blogs in The Congo, Kashmir, the West Bank, Baghdad, Belfast,...

There are no doubt blacks who are obsessively paranoid about whites and their intentions.

I feel, as others do, that the "race card" has been played on behalf of some blacks--some blacks have played the card themselves.

(The funny thing about the "race card" though is that we don't acknowledge so many of the other cards the rest of us love to play, such as the "PC Card.")

In some ways, a part of me feels like we'd be infinitely better off just moving on, not holding onto any part of the past.

But always, there are things that pop up that remind me that we are not quite there, and not as some would like us all to believe, solely because of "them" not just dropping it.

I am unfamiliar with any "race card" in modern society that compares in scope or degree with the "race cards" that were played in the past.

Those original "race cards" better explain why we are where we are today than anything else. Some would love it if all blame could be redirected at those who keep the pot stirred in the present rather than acknowleding where it all began.

The pictures of young people eating watermelons don't offend me.

I see them for the innocence I think most viewers observe.

I would complain much more loudly about some other images that too few African-Americans seem bothered by, ones that are very current and which some blacks themselves are as responsible for perpetuating as any whites: pimps, hos, bitches, hootchy mamas, and the like.

But I do understand the paranoia, particularly if it comes from blacks who have lived long enough to see the way things used to be.

Putting down their complaints would be like me going up to a World War II (or Vietnam) soldier who still suffers from any forms of post-traumatic syndrome and telling him to get over it.

It'd be like telling those soldiers that what they experienced was in the past, it's no longer going on any more, and they just need to grow up and move on.

It's easy for us to sit back and tell someone else what they should ignore or what they should get over it.

Don't worry.

It can be applied and turned around in countless ways, and ultimately it can be used as much against you as for you.

The News & Record chose to print the pictures, and I think they made the right decision.

It is a shame that something so completely innocent was once so universally polluted by white propoganda of the past that some would have reservations about its appropriateness today.

But considering where we once were--not so long ago as some of us would conveniently like to assume--it is understandable why the editors paused, out of respect for the past and what once was so prevalent that there was no escaping it, particularly if you were black.

One would demand the same sort of sensitivity in determining how to present images that might offend or upset soldiers.

The difference? Soldiers volunteered and had some notion of what they might end up facing.

Blacks had no such choice. Black children were targeted as much as adults.

I realize many may not care to do this, but out of curiosity, the issues brought up by the pictures led me to seek more information so that I might be better informed about why some might be offended or upset.

That information led me here, where I suggest anyone who is interested spend some time--looking if not reading.

(When you click on the link above, click on "ENTER" to the right of the homepage. Then scroll down for categories you can pick and choose from.)

I wish I could have viewed this photo of people eating watermelon without any of the sad thoughts that flooded my mind. Unfortunately, I remember all too well seeing the caricatures of people of color being ridiculed eating watermelon in publications during the late 1940's and 50's. Thank you Miss Donnell for speaking up. I understand your feelings all too well.

Yes Barbara, those were awful times to be black in America. That's why we must let this beautiful child just be a beautiful child and not a symbol of anything.

There are real instances of people being stupid to each other in this world. This isn't one of them. Let this one go.

I wish I could have viewed this photo of people eating watermelon without any of the sad thoughts that flooded my mind. Unfortunately, I remember all too well seeing the caricatures of people of color being ridiculed eating watermelon in publications during the late 1940's and 50's. Thank you Miss Donnell for speaking up. I understand your feelings all too well.

just ran across this article on the pc. this lady(haha) must be from up north where they are more civilized(yeah right). I just ate a half a watermelon this morning. been eating them for 50 years. they still taste juicy and messy. but sure are good, so eat one lady, it will do you some good.

As a child, I was ridiculed many times because of my race. I was treated differently. Now that I'm older, I realize that race is a very tiny part of who I am. I also realize that I will be judged based on MY actions and how I live MY life. I will not be judged by how my great grandfather was treated or treated someone else. Only how I treat someone else.

I think many of us could use a reminder of that. This little girl is happy. We should be happy for her.

Amen, "truth".
*whispers* timothy, it was a a freak accident that they agreed with yellowdog or vice versa, that's all. Don't get choked up on it. ;)

I wonder what my first reaction to the photo would have been if I hadn't read the letter first. Then again, I was the last person to get that O.J.(black) killed a white woman. All I thought about was that he played for Buffalo.

I was the last to catch on about Rodney King and many other such stories that seemed to be so obvious as it pertained to race.

But my theory is this: There are a lot of older people in this country who lived through a much different time than I. If they are not preaching their predjudices to their children, much of it will die along with the their generation- and not until then.

A great shot. Congrats to the photographer. Imagine the thrill of that little girl when she saw her picture in the paper the next day.

By the way, what cool, delicious, thirst-satisfying snack would a little girl want to eat on a torturing , balmy, day? Let me see, hmmmmm.......

For the readers who enjoyed the picture of the child eating watermelon: I am not black, so I cannot fully appreciate why Ms. Donnell is upset by this picture. However, if you enjoy seeing this type of thing, may I suggest making a trip down to the Mebane (NC) Antique Auction one Friday night. Watch for the ads in the newspaper for black memorabelia. After four years of attending the auction and watching these rare items command exorbitant prices, I can better understand why Ms. Donnell feels the way she does.