QuoteGEORGETOWN, Texas - An animal shelter pulled the plug on a program promoting the adoption of black cats and dogs after criticism that the event would have taken place the same week as a holiday commemorating freedom for enslaved blacks.
The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter planned to reduce adoption fees from June 14-20 for black-coated animals through a "Black is Beautiful" promotion.
Eleven of 17 dogs and 12 of 24 cats at the shelter have black coats, shelter director Cheryl Schneider said. "It's just a known fact that black cats and black dogs are difficult to adopt," she said.
People choose other animals over the black cats and dogs for a variety of reasons, including superstition, fears of aggression and complaints that people can't see the animals' facial expressions as well, Schneider said.
"I think it is very unfair to the dogs and cats that are here," she said.
Williamson County spokeswoman Connie Watson told the Austin American-Statesman the shelter has offered promotions before and this one was not meant to be a Juneteenth-related event.
Celebrated June 19, Juneteenth commemorates the 1867 arrival of Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston with news of freedom for Texas blacks. The announcement came nearly 2 1/2 years after passage of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told the newspaper the promotion was "not very well planned or considered."
"In society, we live in small worlds, don't talk to people, assume things and promote things that have no basis in reality," Linder said. "I would encourage them to do more outreach on those animals. Talk to people, get some feedback so these things don't happen."
Schneider put a stop to the adoption program after learning about the controversy. "It was just bad timing," she said.
She said future promotions will not be so specific.
I could see if they did this marketing campaign in February, or on MLK day (you know, a holiday people would be expected to know about), but has anyone heard of Juneteenth? Is it huge in Texas and I just don't know since I've never lived there?
I think Mr. Linder might be the one living in a small world and assuming things that have no basis in reality.
Actually I live in Texas and I've never even heard of it. Kinda stupid if you ask me.
I'll have to chime in later on this one. :-X [roll]
I'm moving to Austin in a few weeks.
I think people seriously sit around and wait for something to squak about...
I truly don't mean to offend anyone here, but why is it that when "certain protected groups" (unfortunately, being a woman, I am stuck in one of these groups whether I like it or not...) find a way to be offended about something completely unrelated to their background, or whatever you want to call it, everyone has to drop to their knees and abandon potentially good things for the sake of being PC?
I don't know. That was probably an ignorant statement but I have a hard time making sense of these things sometimes...
Quote from: hangin_biposto on June 12, 2008, 12:30:11 PM
I think people seriously sit around and wait for something to squak about...
I truly don't mean to offend anyone here, but why is it that when "certain protected groups" (unfortunately, being a woman, I am stuck in one of these groups whether I like it or not...) find a way to be offended about something completely unrelated to their background, or whatever you want to call it, everyone has to drop to their knees and abandon potentially good things for the sake of being PC?
I don't know. That was probably an ignorant statement but I have a hard time making sense of these things sometimes...
No.
understand you completely!
I agree hb.
Quote from: hangin_biposto on June 12, 2008, 12:30:11 PM
unfortunately, being a woman, I am stuck in one of these groups whether I like it or not...
Sex change ;)
When are we going to have "EDUCATED, GAINFULLY EMPLOYED, TAX PAYING, HEREROSEXUAL, CAUCASIAN MAN'S DAY?"
(they are now coming to take me away to that little island... Hopefully they will erase my memory quickly so I won't miss all of you.)FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US!!!
[/color]
I'm not against keeping the playing field level, but when you start making special classes to prevent discrimination, you are discriminating against everyone that is not in that class.
Quote from: Pakhan on June 12, 2008, 01:20:03 PM
Sex change ;)
As much as I like the idea of having the world as my urinal, man junk would have its own set of problems to deal with...
Quote from: Bick on June 12, 2008, 01:35:42 PM
I'm not against keeping the playing field level, but when you start making special classes to prevent discrimination, you are discriminating against everyone that is not in that class.
Amen!
Quote from: Bick on June 12, 2008, 01:35:42 PM
I'm not against keeping the playing field level, but when you start making special classes to prevent discrimination, you are discriminating against everyone that is not in that class.
The playing field isn't meant to be level. Suck it up.
Why are all the words on this forum white? Are they saying that only white people can read? I think the color choices for this forum were not very well planned or considered.
Quote from: hangin_biposto on June 12, 2008, 01:38:17 PM
As much as I like the idea of having the world as my urinal, man junk would have its own set of problems to deal with...
You'd have to buy new jeans for one.
Quote from: silentbob on June 12, 2008, 01:44:18 PM
Why are all the words on this forum white? Are they saying that only white people can read? I think the color choices for this forum were not very well planned or considered.
There are other colors available for your use. You are just being discrimatory.
I've got it!!
Let's re-name the color black!!
Any ideas!!
Quote from: IZ on June 12, 2008, 01:55:13 PM
I've got it!!
Let's re-name the color black!!
Any ideas!!
Color 2
Color 3
Color 4
Color 5
Color 1 was intentionally omitted as someone would pregnant dog about not being number 1. But then again, number 2 is first place loser, so someone will pregnant dog about that... and then what if someone is color blind... oh my gosh what happens then?
Quote from: IZ on June 12, 2008, 01:55:13 PM
I've got it!!
Let's re-name the color black!!
Any ideas!!
Over-pigmented?
Pigmentation over-acheivers?
Quote from: hangin_biposto on June 12, 2008, 01:59:17 PM
Color 2
Color 3
Color 4
Color 5
Color 1 was intentionally omitted as someone would pregnant dog about not being number 1. But then again, number 2 is first place loser, so someone will pregnant dog about that... and then what if someone is color blind... oh my gosh what happens then?
We could do away with all labels... But no, then we would also be taking away that classes identity.
I guess we are all just screwed.
Syndrome:
"I'll give them heroics. I'll give them the most spectacular heroics the world has ever seen! And when I'm old and I've had my fun, I'll sell my inventions so that *everyone* can have powers. *Everyone* can be Super! And when everyone's Super... [chuckles evilly] No one will be."
Quote from: Pakhan on June 12, 2008, 01:20:03 PM
Sex change ;)
Quiet you fool! She's the only one here who posts catholic schoolgirl pics and they're only allowed if it's a self pic! Don't ruin it!
Quote from: someguy on June 12, 2008, 04:53:39 PM
Quiet you fool! She's the only one here who posts catholic schoolgirl pics and they're only allowed if it's a self pic! Don't ruin it!
You don't want her to become the 2nd pregnant man?
I guess the 2nd of anything doesn't get the press and book deals.
Quote from: lethe on June 12, 2008, 04:57:08 PM
You don't want her to become the 2nd pregnant man?
I guess the 2nd of anything doesn't get the press and book deals.
There never was a pregnant guy. Look like a guy and have girl parts? Then yer just an ugly girl, sorry.
Quote from: someguy on June 12, 2008, 05:00:32 PM
There never was a pregnant guy. Look like a guy and have girl parts? Then yer just an ugly girl, sorry.
Apparently guy enough for the media.
People seem to have forgotten that with all our freedoms nowhere is it stated that we have the "right to not be offended" talk about a over-reaction.
Quote from: someguy on June 12, 2008, 04:53:39 PM
Quiet you fool! She's the only one here who posts catholic schoolgirl pics and they're only allowed if it's a self pic! Don't ruin it!
wait wait wait wait, links to said pictures required now.
Quote from: knightrider on June 12, 2008, 05:26:31 PM
wait wait wait wait, links to said pictures required now.
They're in the post pics of yourself thread.
i have something i copied and pasted from my myspace page. yes i have a myspace, and i dont care, its actually easy to find old friends that way.
Quote from: my myspace
You call me "redneck" ,"hillbilly", "slacker" , "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey", "Gringo" and you think it's OK.
...But If I were to call you coon, jiggaboo, Kike, sand nigger, rag head, Towelhead, WOP, Camel Jockey, Gook, nigger, slant eyes or Chink you call me a racist.
-You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
-You have the United Negro College Fund.
-You have Martin Luther King Day.
-You have Black History Month.
-You have Cesar Chavez Day.
-You have Yom Hashoah
-You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi
-You have the NAACP.
-You have BET.
BUT
-If we had WET(white entertainment television) ...we'd be racist.
-If we had a White Pride Day... you would call us racist.
-If we had white history month... we'd be racist.
-If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives... we'd be racist.
-If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships...you know we'd be racist.
-In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights...you would call us racist.
-Did you know that some high school students decided to make a club for only the white students because the other ethnicities had them... they all got sent to court for being racist but the african-american, Latino, and Asia clubs were not even questioned.
-You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
-You have "black is beautiful" shirts and people think its cute but if I wore a "white is wonderful" shirt id get beat up.
I am white.
I am proud.
so f**k you, call me a racist i don't care
i happen to live in deepest darkest east texas, but that doesnt really matter. i hate the way things happen around here, and how "certain" people get special treatment. i have dealt with alot of people that feel they should get special treatment because they are a different color.
i have several friends that can get out of stuff by pulling the "race card" but the one time i tried to do it i still got a ticket. the officer, a black man, asked if i knew why he pulled me over and i answered with "i may be wrong, but i bet its because im young, white, and im driving a sports car!" apparently, the gray seatbelt didnt contrast enough with my red shirt for him to see it.
ps. i run a small screen print business, and i am probably about to make a tshirt that says "white pride" and then having the whole thing i quoted from my myspace memorized for every person that thinks its offensive.
i apologize if i offended anyone, but those are my views as a white american male that doesnt like double standards.
I'm human. Yes, I am white. Yes, I am female. I live in the north. But above all else, I am simply human. If people used that energy to fight for HUMANITY, instead of just for the black parts, or the white parts, or the asian parts, I wonder what things would be like...
Who gives a fu(k what I look like on the surface - the same blood is in my veins. A bullet can stop me dead just as it can an African person, an Asian person, a Middle Eastern person... whatever. The tools to make my life better are all around me. It's my choice - I can reach out and use those tools to build a satisfactory life for myself, or I can sit around and look for reasons why someone else should do it for me, or make excuses as to why I can't do it myself (I am just a helpless woman after all...) I find myself in uncomfortable or objectionable situations once in a while simply because I am a female. But I don't cry foul when it happens because that's just the way life works. I have better things to do with my time than cry about it.
I don't have a chip on my shoulder because, for example, years ago women weren't allowed to vote. Give me a fu(king break. I don't think slavery or any other historical injustice is a valid argument anymore. It sucked to be them. It only sucks to be you if you let it.
The guidelines for special treatment should be based on ambition. What do you, as a human being, want to do to make your life better? If I'm a white girl and work my ass off more than the Mexican kid (not picking on Mexicans, btw) next to me, yes I deserve that scholarship. Not just because I have a vajayjay. If the black boy in front of me wrote a good essay, and mine was just alright, give him the friggin scholarship.
Lots of people find themselves in what they see as unfair situations because they're just too damn lazy to do something about it, not because the scales are tipped so far out of their favor...
The whole thing befuddles me...
Quote from: toaster on June 13, 2008, 10:04:52 AM
i have something i copied and pasted from my myspace page. yes i have a myspace, and i dont care, its actually easy to find old friends that way.
i happen to live in deepest darkest east texas, but that doesnt really matter. i hate the way things happen around here, and how "certain" people get special treatment. i have dealt with alot of people that feel they should get special treatment because they are a different color.
i have several friends that can get out of stuff by pulling the "race card" but the one time i tried to do it i still got a ticket. the officer, a black man, asked if i knew why he pulled me over and i answered with "i may be wrong, but i bet its because im young, white, and im driving a sports car!" apparently, the gray seatbelt didnt contrast enough with my red shirt for him to see it.
ps. i run a small screen print business, and i am probably about to make a tshirt that says "white pride" and then having the whole thing i quoted from my myspace memorized for every person that thinks its offensive.
i apologize if i offended anyone, but those are my views as a white american male that doesnt like double standards.
HERE HERE!!!! Well said.
P.S. Where are you in East Texas? I spend four years (of hell) in Longview.
im in the great big city of tyler. i grew up in rusk until i was 16 then lived in bullard for 5 or 6 years and now i live in tyler.
Fortunately, I've got a thick skin too. So here goes.
1) Manufactured outrage is pretty much the currency of a lot of our political debate these days -- and you're fooling yourself if you think that calculated outrage as a PR strategy is limited to any one part of the political spectrum or any particular race, creed, gender or sexual orientation. Much of the programming on Fox News, for example, is based entirely on that principle.
2) In this case, I think the shelter really didn't think it through very well -- I spent about 20 years doing media & PR work for just the sort of do-gooder non-profits as this one, and -- even ignoring the Juneteenth thing --- co-opting one of the most famous slogans of the '60s & 70s Black Power movement and applying it to black dogs and cats just doesn't strike me as a great idea. It turns the story into something completely different, and NOT the fact that you've got a whole lot of critters that need adoption. It's just not very good PR work to be that out of touch with your audience.
3) I re-read the original story a couple of times looking for outrage on either side, and honestly couldn't find it -- I'm going to quote the strongest parts of what the reporter used in the story (and you can be sure the reporter used the juciest, most conflict-laden bits -- no conflict = no story): "... not very well planned or considered." "We live in small worlds, don't talk to people, assume things and promote things that have no basis in reality." (Notice -- he said "We live in small worlds..." not "Those people/White people live in small worlds..."). His suggestion? "Talk to people..." Not "we'll see you in court," or "Burn it down!," just a suggestion that talking to people outside our own experience would be a good thing. The shelter director didn't seem all that threatened by the whole thing -- she called it "just bad timing." No apology demanded, or given, or even suggested by anybody.
4) I'd heard of Juneteenth, but mostly because I was a very minor-league Civil War buff for a while. It's hardly common knowledge, I'll agree. I do think it's a day worth noting -- it's a pretty proud, pivotal moment in American history -- and can see why it's a bigger deal in the black community. Hell, I fly an American Flag or three on July Fourth and give serious thanks that I'm not a subject of Great Britain. American microbrew or Guinness is an appropriate toast, since the Irish get to celebrate the same freedom. [drink] Still, that was a whole bunch of generations ago, so maybe it's not appropriate for me to mark Independence Day anymore?
And because it somehow seems appropriate, here's my approach to the whole black/white pet thing:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2494629983_3802489863.jpg?v=0)
The main thing I have against the black one, Yang (her sister's named Yin), is that after five years she still hasn't figured out that I can't see her in the dark and gets really pissed when I trip over her...
Cheers,
BRAD
Was Juneteenth named by Keanu Reeves?
Quote from: triangleforge on June 13, 2008, 01:09:26 PM
And because it somehow seems appropriate, here's my approach to the whole black/white pet thing:
Adorable! Here's mine.
(http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/2002-Grover_Watson_sit.jpg)
The worst thing about black pets is that they are much more difficult to photograph well ;)
(It is true that they are harder to adopt and some people are more intimidated by them, but all you need to do is put a cute bandana or collar on them and that can make a huge difference.)
Ahhhh... Reminds me of:
http://www.youtube.com/v/sssqBjaTzOU&hl=en
Quote from: triangleforge on June 13, 2008, 01:09:26 PM
And because it somehow seems appropriate, here's my approach to the whole black/white pet thing:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2494629983_3802489863.jpg?v=0)
how do you keep that carpet so clean with Dave around?
Quote from: bobspapa on June 13, 2008, 01:22:03 PM
how do you keep that carpet so clean with Dave around?
Good question, that's an older picture. ;)
Quote from: msincredible on June 13, 2008, 01:19:46 PM
(It is true that they are harder to adopt and some people are more intimidated by them, but all you need to do is put a cute bandana or collar on them and that can make a huge difference.)
Here's an example, Dave was having fun this morning (lucky my dogs are so tolerant ;))
(http://paularickert.net/albums/userpics/watson_hat.JPG)
The facial expression is pure "You see what I have to deal with on a daily basis?" [cheeky]