Must not joke about watermelons

We read:

"The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year." Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued a statement Thursday saying he is sorry and will step down as mayor at Monday's City Council meeting.

Grose came under fire for sending the picture to what he called "a small group of friends." One of the recipients, a local businesswoman and city volunteer, publicly scolded the mayor for his actions.

Grose says he accepts that the e-mail was in poor taste and has affected his ability to lead the city. Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons.

Source

As Taranto comments: "Whether Grose was aware of the stereotype or not, surely some people have been introduced to it by the flap over his email. That is to say, because the offended recipient of Grose's email chose to make a public issue of it, more people will make a mental association between watermelons and black people than otherwise would have. Once again we see the paradox of "racial sensitivity" at work."