Downtown jumps the shark. Between frat boys roaming the outdoor mall formally known as Soho, oh-so-hip club chicks barfing on the sidewalk in front of oh-so-hip clubs in the Meatpacking district, and now this...
Show me a place that doesn't have racist assholes. But most people at least have the sense not to proudly put their bigotry on display in a bakery window, and then feign naivety when people get upset.
"Aww shucks, when I put up that cross in my black neighbor's yard and set it on fire, I was just trying to bring him the Holy Spirit. I can't understand why he's so pissed off at me." (wink, wink)
And proving that profound stupidity isn't limited to NYC, our old friend Blago compares his arrest to Pearl Harbor. I'm sure the 1102 sailors still inside the USS Arizona feel your pain, Guv.
You didn't ask me, but I think Chicago is definitely segregated, but I can't really say that it's more racist than NYC. If you drive east from Midway, it's Irish, then you cross a street and it's Mexican, then you cross another street and it's black, then you get to Hyde Park and it's integrated, which was (maybe is) a novelty in Chicago. I've heard the idea put forth that if Chicago wasn't so segregated, Obama wouldn't have risen so quickly-he had the segregated black community as a strong base in the city, and Democratic machine politics in Illinois meant that white voters in the metro area would support him--because he was a Democrat.
I think the level of racism in NYC is actually really underestimated and shocking.
About the cookie controversy...was I the only one who saw that interview with the baker and thought he might be a bit...slow? Beyond how you feel about what he did, something about him seemed off.
"gin, in your experience, what's a more racist and segregated city, NYC or Chicago?"
Well, I don't claim any particular insight into the minds of each city's residents beyond my own social circle, and on that level, I haven't noticed much of a difference between the two cities. But then, I generally don't hang out with people who are prone to openly racist behavior, and my social circles in both cities have included people of a pretty wide variety of racial backgrounds. (The only times I've encountered outwardly shameless racist behavior have all been during my years growing up in the south.)
They say the 11AM hour on Sunday mornings is the most segregated time in America, and I tend to agree. I've attended a number of churches both in NYC and in Chicago, and I will note that the churches I've been to here in NYC seem a bit more integrated than the ones I've attended in Chicago. I think that's reflective of neighborhood demographic, which leads me to my next point...
In terms of segregation, Chicago is by far more segregated than NYC, and the racist policies of mayor Richard J. Daley have been well-documented as a matter of historical record. The situation in Chicago was so bad that Dr. King spent a number of years there leading a fight for open housing, and got bashed in the head with a brick during one protest march. When King was assassinated in 1968, the entire West Side went up in flames. New York also had some scattered riots, but they were nowhere on the scale of what happened in Chicago.
How much Chicago has improved since then is open to debate, but the scars still linger and there are still a lot of bitter feelings. Most notably, several large public works projects (the UIC campus, the Dan Ryan Expressway, and various public housing projects) were built with the specific purpose of reinforcing the city's patterns of segregation, and those effects can't be mitigated overnight. To the city's credit, they've been making serious efforts to rebuild public housing, and the UIC campus is now far more open to the neighborhood than the walled fortress it used to be. The Dan Ryan, though, isn't going anywhere.
NYC had its racist strongman in the form of Robert Moses, who single-handedly opened up Westchester and Long Island to post-war development while expressing an open disdain for public transit in the city. His public housing projects were only marginally better than what Daley was building in Chicago at the time.
Today in NYC, I don't think the city as a whole is segregated to the extent that Chicago is, and I think the city government is generally far more progressive than Chicago's in that regard, but that's not to say racial animosity doesn't exist. Here, I think it rears its head most often in neighborhoods that are gentrifying, or where some incident sparks off a series of recriminations. For example, see the 1991 Crown Heights riot.
LIG...I think that NYC "appears to be progressive". More so than now, Mayor Doomberg and his croonies exercise the use of "eminent domain" to much controversy. This can and will probably contribute to a more segregated city. It affects the lives of hard working people, regardless of race, IMHO.
Mdler, looking at it, it probably tastes like sh*t. What do expect from someone who has sh*t for brains.....?
since when has the word "negro" been considered offensive?
the cookie concept is clearly poor taste...but also rather amusing too. i suspect the baker is correct in saying that commentary has been blown out of proportion.
I don't think it's about pronunciation, it's unfortunately about skin colour. would all the above responses be the same if the (not so bright) shop owner was an African American?
Well......how many times have you seen cakes made to mock white people? The source and context matter, but ignorance is ignorance. And remember, if a women calls another woman a bitch, it doesn't have the same sting as when a man does.
About the NYC and Chicago comparison....NY may have distinct racial neighborhoods, but they are not so far from each other. I live in BK and I can walk from Hasidic Jew, to Puerto Rican to Jamaican within less than a mile. Chicago has its ethnic neighborhoods, but they are so spread out and disconnected from each other, that it is much more noticeably segregated. Not to mention, the fact that there aren't many black neighborhoods north of the Eisenhower. The north/south split in Chicago dwarf's any "segregation" in NYC.
Feb 1, 09 8:41 am ·
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Unbeleivable - For you NYC Kids
What in the HELL is going on up there?
"a caricature and a work of art"?
What a worthless piece of shit. Reminds me of the redneck who named his kid Adolph Hitler and pretended to not understand why everybody was so upset.
You have to wonder why a neofascist bigot would open a shop in the Village, though. Not exactly fertile ground for his brand of social commentary.
Downtown jumps the shark. Between frat boys roaming the outdoor mall formally known as Soho, oh-so-hip club chicks barfing on the sidewalk in front of oh-so-hip clubs in the Meatpacking district, and now this...
Brooklyn, baby, Brooklyn.
I think the phrase "jumps the shark" has jumped the shark.
yeah, people, the new phrase for the hip kats now is; Nuke The Fridge, JTP died a horrible plane crash when the website got sold to TV Guide.
How could someone get away with this -- especially in the Village?
he won't for long, poor guy, you'd figure in this economy he'd be a little bit brighter than that.
Someone may declare him, officially, not that bright. I hope.
What's outrageous is the fact that you folks all seem so oblivious to just how mind-bogglingly racist New York City is.
Show me a place that doesn't have racist assholes. But most people at least have the sense not to proudly put their bigotry on display in a bakery window, and then feign naivety when people get upset.
"Aww shucks, when I put up that cross in my black neighbor's yard and set it on fire, I was just trying to bring him the Holy Spirit. I can't understand why he's so pissed off at me." (wink, wink)
And proving that profound stupidity isn't limited to NYC, our old friend Blago compares his arrest to Pearl Harbor. I'm sure the 1102 sailors still inside the USS Arizona feel your pain, Guv.
How big is that thing? It looks like the size of my foot.
gin, in your experience, what's a more racist and segregated city, NYC or Chicago?
You didn't ask me, but I think Chicago is definitely segregated, but I can't really say that it's more racist than NYC. If you drive east from Midway, it's Irish, then you cross a street and it's Mexican, then you cross another street and it's black, then you get to Hyde Park and it's integrated, which was (maybe is) a novelty in Chicago. I've heard the idea put forth that if Chicago wasn't so segregated, Obama wouldn't have risen so quickly-he had the segregated black community as a strong base in the city, and Democratic machine politics in Illinois meant that white voters in the metro area would support him--because he was a Democrat.
I think the level of racism in NYC is actually really underestimated and shocking.
About the cookie controversy...was I the only one who saw that interview with the baker and thought he might be a bit...slow? Beyond how you feel about what he did, something about him seemed off.
He's slow and he's racist, those are two pretty common character flaws in "the Greatest City in The World."
Well, I don't claim any particular insight into the minds of each city's residents beyond my own social circle, and on that level, I haven't noticed much of a difference between the two cities. But then, I generally don't hang out with people who are prone to openly racist behavior, and my social circles in both cities have included people of a pretty wide variety of racial backgrounds. (The only times I've encountered outwardly shameless racist behavior have all been during my years growing up in the south.)
They say the 11AM hour on Sunday mornings is the most segregated time in America, and I tend to agree. I've attended a number of churches both in NYC and in Chicago, and I will note that the churches I've been to here in NYC seem a bit more integrated than the ones I've attended in Chicago. I think that's reflective of neighborhood demographic, which leads me to my next point...
In terms of segregation, Chicago is by far more segregated than NYC, and the racist policies of mayor Richard J. Daley have been well-documented as a matter of historical record. The situation in Chicago was so bad that Dr. King spent a number of years there leading a fight for open housing, and got bashed in the head with a brick during one protest march. When King was assassinated in 1968, the entire West Side went up in flames. New York also had some scattered riots, but they were nowhere on the scale of what happened in Chicago.
How much Chicago has improved since then is open to debate, but the scars still linger and there are still a lot of bitter feelings. Most notably, several large public works projects (the UIC campus, the Dan Ryan Expressway, and various public housing projects) were built with the specific purpose of reinforcing the city's patterns of segregation, and those effects can't be mitigated overnight. To the city's credit, they've been making serious efforts to rebuild public housing, and the UIC campus is now far more open to the neighborhood than the walled fortress it used to be. The Dan Ryan, though, isn't going anywhere.
NYC had its racist strongman in the form of Robert Moses, who single-handedly opened up Westchester and Long Island to post-war development while expressing an open disdain for public transit in the city. His public housing projects were only marginally better than what Daley was building in Chicago at the time.
Today in NYC, I don't think the city as a whole is segregated to the extent that Chicago is, and I think the city government is generally far more progressive than Chicago's in that regard, but that's not to say racial animosity doesn't exist. Here, I think it rears its head most often in neighborhoods that are gentrifying, or where some incident sparks off a series of recriminations. For example, see the 1991 Crown Heights riot.
i wonder how the cake tastes???
LIG...I think that NYC "appears to be progressive". More so than now, Mayor Doomberg and his croonies exercise the use of "eminent domain" to much controversy. This can and will probably contribute to a more segregated city. It affects the lives of hard working people, regardless of race, IMHO.
Mdler, looking at it, it probably tastes like sh*t. What do expect from someone who has sh*t for brains.....?
since when has the word "negro" been considered offensive?
the cookie concept is clearly poor taste...but also rather amusing too. i suspect the baker is correct in saying that commentary has been blown out of proportion.
it's all about pronunciation, Puddles...
I don't think it's about pronunciation, it's unfortunately about skin colour. would all the above responses be the same if the (not so bright) shop owner was an African American?
Well......how many times have you seen cakes made to mock white people? The source and context matter, but ignorance is ignorance. And remember, if a women calls another woman a bitch, it doesn't have the same sting as when a man does.
About the NYC and Chicago comparison....NY may have distinct racial neighborhoods, but they are not so far from each other. I live in BK and I can walk from Hasidic Jew, to Puerto Rican to Jamaican within less than a mile. Chicago has its ethnic neighborhoods, but they are so spread out and disconnected from each other, that it is much more noticeably segregated. Not to mention, the fact that there aren't many black neighborhoods north of the Eisenhower. The north/south split in Chicago dwarf's any "segregation" in NYC.
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