One of the displays I showed on October 24, 2008, was of a mannequin dressed to look like Sarah Palin, hanging from a rope.
Another one was of a black man hanging.
Today I see a report about the Sarah Hanging Display and the comparison in reactions between the two displays is astounding when you think of it.
Here is the Sarah display:
Here is the other display:
Now let us take a look at the reactions for comparison.
Greenfield, Wisconsin where the black mannequin was displayed, hanging, over a graveyard scene:
A dark mannequin figure was hanging from a tree in front of a Greenfield home. Some members of the African-American community complained it was insensitive and had racial overtones.
The homeowner has taken that figure down, but neighbors didn’t see this as a racial issue.
“It didn’t really strike me as anything unusual. It just looked like part of the graveyard scene,” neighbor Julie Salmeron said.
The owner says she never intended to offend anyone. The homeowner said the family hung the same mannequin last year for about six weeks without a single complaint and she was surprised by the negative attention it received this year.
West Hollywood, California, where the Hanging Sarah display is:
A Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home is drawing giggles from some passers-by and gasps of outrage from others.
The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney.
Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told CBS 2 News that drivers and bus passengers have been stopping to snap pictures of the macabre scene.
Morisette says the effigy would be out of bounds at any other time of year, but it's within the spirit of Halloween.
So one display was removed because some people found it "racially offensive" and the other figure is simply the "spirit of Halloween."
Anyone else seeing an incredible double standard here?
Is one more offensive than the other?
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