"Coon" cheese is racist, says Australian black activist



Dr. Coon would be surprised.

"Emboldened by the State Government's decision to erase the word 'nigger' from a sports ground, an anti-racism activist says he will target Coon cheese. But Stephen Hagan's latest pursuit has already attracted hate-mail, with one emailer writing the cheese name should be changed to "nigga cheese".

Mr Hagan said he was used to personal attacks following his nine-year battle to have the racist term "nigger" removed from the E.S. "Nigger" Brown Stand in Toowoomba, named after the city's first international footballer. It is believed he received the nickname because he was particularly fair-skinned.

He said he was renewing his campaign against Coon cheese because he had information that it was called that nearly 10 years before Edward Coon lodged a patent in 1926. "I have my doubts about the original authenticity about the naming of that brand," Mr Hagan said. He said the word "Coon" was grossly offensive to indigenous people.

Source

Coon cheese is one of the most popular types of cheese sold in Australia and is named after the man who invented the process used in producing it. "Coon" was undoubtedly once used as a derogratory term for blacks but, as far as I know, has fallen out of use almost everywhere. I believe I have in fact heard the term used only once, when a person of Fascist sympathies referred to "Martin Luther Coon".

The fuss the guy above is making may well revive use of the term, however. "Anti-racists" generally do their best to keep racial antagonisms alive.

Update

See here for more on the origins of the cheese, written by a keen coon cheese eater.