I have a friend who wants to donate (as part of a big Preakness gift package) and decorative lawn jockey statue painted in the school’s colors (it’s a school fundraiser). Someone on her committee seems to think that it has negative racial connotations but we disagree. We live in Maryland and it’s part of a horse racing prize package!! Are we being insensitive? It just seems like in Maryland in 2008 no one would think anything of it. Opinions?
I suppose it depends on the color of the jockey, if the owner is affiliated with racing or not, and the facial expression of the jockey.
On one hand you can see non-equine homes (without any suggestion of being associated with horses or racing) with the black jockey and recoil with it being just a notch or two down from being as offensive as flying the conferate flag.
However go to Saratoga Springs and you’ll see many summer homes of the looooong established racing families with their (white) lawn jockey painted in their racing colors. Not one hint of it being wrong (or should it frankly) exists whatsoever.
Also least anyone forget, but African-American jockeys rode 14 of 15 horses in that first Kentucky Derby. And African-American reinsmen won 15 of the Derby’s first 28 runnings.
Although highly questionable some suggest that the black lawn jockey was actually a signal in the underground railroad, although evidence of such is scant and appears to be a at best a theory.
When anyone starts to get into the mind of what irks others or is seen as being racist you can go down a wild, wild ride of the insane.
As I recall Snapple was nailed with whispers for being racist for two reasons with their original tea bottles: 1 - It had the kosher indication via the circle K and 2 - it showed a classic 18thCentury sailing ship with teas. Those rabid to suggest racism (and about as ignorant as they get) claimed the K meant that for insiders it was owned by the KKK and that the ships were in fact slave ships. Nuts! However Snapple did drop the ship and reworked the Kosher designation accordingly.
[QUOTE=KayPink;2998743]
I have a friend who wants to donate (as part of a big Preakness gift package) and decorative lawn jockey statue painted in the school’s colors (it’s a school fundraiser). Someone on her committee seems to think that it has negative racial connotations but we disagree. We live in Maryland and it’s part of a horse racing prize package!! Are we being insensitive? It just seems like in Maryland in 2008 no one would think anything of it. Opinions?[/QUOTE]
It’s 110% certain to be seen as a racial thing, and I don’t mean just by crazy, obsessive PC types.
Get a white jockey if people are so worried and it’ll be okay. People get too freakin worked up over the little things - its art after all.
Thanks for all your replies… we’ll see what they decide to do!
I can tell you there are lawn jockey’s all over Pimlico and I have never heard a single person, white or black complain about it. They paint the winner of the preakness’ silks on the one outside the stake barn each year, I would love to get my hands on that one.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;2999363]
I can tell you there are lawn jockey’s all over Pimlico and I have never heard a single person, white or black complain about it.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
As I said I think the question becomes venue appropriate. If as an individual you’re a well known racing owner/enthusiast or if you’re a horse farm - parking one out front is no big deal. However I doubt all would appreciate one in front of my brownstone in Chicago.
I wondered over here and had no clue all the history behind the lawn jockey! Thanks for the history lesson 
I have one at my barn. Painted black. And I am NOT A RACIST.
I agree with QHJockee - too much is made over things like this. Soon they will change the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle claiming racism there too. Some ethnicities breed racism in the way they claim everything IS racially negative. People need to get over themselves!
And to think I didn’t know about lawnjockey.com, which claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer of lawn jockey’s (sic)."
I think there’d be less outcry if people kept their lawn jockey’s (sic) confined to the backyard. This probably also reduces the chances it will be abducted or, as they say ‘liberated’, by one of the less-scrupulous chapters of the Garden Gnome Liberation Fronts. But if that should happen, perhaps these folks can help reunite you with your statuary.
If the lawn jockey was black, I could see someone making a big deal out of it. A white one would probably be okay…or at least less controversial.
But I agree with JER that it will probably be a popular thing to steal. :winkgrin:
Hey JER, I looked out the window the other night and saw mine trying to sneak off with the fountain angels. He must not suffer from Little Man syndrome.
black/african americans should take it as a compliment andi will tell you why. some of the best jockeys in history were black. look at the early history of the ky derby and see the black jockeys who rode in it. if you want to read a truly great story about a jockey look under winkfield.
OMG I grew up in Maryland in the 1960s and 1970s. Even then (or maybe especially then) we learned in no uncertain terms that lawn jockeys had very unfortunate racial connotations. The term “lawn jockey” has been used as a synonym for an “Uncle Tom,” it was also a term used by whites to refer to African Americans, all of them not just those who might actually be riders.
We’ve had one forever. It is a jockey, but was intended to be a hitching post. It is black, and an antique.
Another Lawn Jocky Take
There is an artist named Willie Cole (yes, he’s black) who uses Lawn Jockies in his work. He says that they are a reference to a Yoruba/Nigerian God Legba and one touches its head before entering a door, kind of like a mezzuzza. A Santaria-like evolution of beliefs.
I have one at my barn. Painted black. And I am NOT A RACIST.
I agree with QHJockee - too much is made over things like this. Soon they will change the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle claiming racism there too. Some ethnicities breed racism in the way they claim everything IS racially negative. People need to get over themselves!
Yes, you are a racist. Ignorance of how these ‘traditions’ are racist is no excuse. These icons were created in racism, that is why they are frowned upon. Whether they are used that way or percieved that way, the lawn jockeys were representative of servents hold the owner’s guests horses (hitching post) and barn help, which were slaves and black, and the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle is racists because it was created around a slave racists stereotype of the care-taker mammy. Whether you still think that way or not, the creation of these icons were racist at the time.
Today, people who do not want to subscribe to social racist traditions are vocal about pointing them out. In my part of the world, we see lawn jockeys only rarely, and their faces are painted white. They make me and most people I know uncomfotable, and I wonder what the owners are missing in their history that they would continue to think its acceptable to have it in front of their barn, garage, house walkway. My mother pointed this out to me when I was a child. I was taught about predjudice so I would recognize it when I see it. We were all wealthy (growing up) with old family estates, many of which had lawn jockeys from past generations, and all of the families I knew got rid of them during the '60s.
I guess I can perpetuate a little stereotyping of my own when I notice that all the “its ok, go ahead and give a black lawn jockey for a present” people are from southern states. And no, we don’t consider Maryland a northern state. This whole thread demonstrates not only racism, but ignorance. Sweet people.
I’m kinda surprised how many people dismiss the potential for bad feeling here.
Old Aunt Jemima bottles and similar items depicting African Americans are actually quite popular among black antique collectors. Note - black collectors. It makes a difference who owns the bottle or the statue.
[QUOTE=moonriverfarm;2999454]
I have one at my barn. Painted black. And I am NOT A RACIST.
I agree with QHJockee - too much is made over things like this. Soon they will change the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle claiming racism there too. Some ethnicities breed racism in the way they claim everything IS racially negative. People need to get over themselves![/QUOTE]
Black lawn jockeys in the traditional sense are not racist. As they were originally made to be a tribute to a black groom at one point in time.
However some mean spirited people have made “minstrel” looking lawn jockeys where the jockey has overly large features a different facial expression and sometimes a lowere head. THat typw of LJ is considered to be a slight and is considered racist.
Your comment that some ethnicities breeed racism, is non-sense. You cannot breed racism it is a learned trait. I will agree that often time people cry racism when that is not the case, but I still am smart enough to know that it is out there.
you may want to learn to differentiate between being racist and being prejudice. I do not think you are racist, however I do get the impression that you may be prejudice.
Well-said.
[QUOTE=AnotherRound;3001066]
Yes, you are a racist. Ignorance of how these ‘traditions’ are racist is no excuse. These icons were created in racism, that is why they are frowned upon. Whether they are used that way or perceived that way, the lawn jockeys were representative of servents hold the owner’s guests horses (hitching post) and barn help, which were slaves and black, and the Aunt Jemima syrup bottle is racist because it was created around a slave racists stereotype of the care-taker mammy. Whether you still think that way or not, the creation of these icons were racist at the time.
Today, people who do not want to subscribe to social racist traditions are vocal about pointing them out. In my part of the world, we see lawn jockeys only rarely, and their faces are painted white. They make me and most people I know uncomfortable, and I wonder what the owners are missing in their history that they would continue to think its acceptable to have it in front of their barn, garage, house walkway. My mother pointed this out to me when I was a child. I was taught about prejudice so I would recognize it when I see it. We were all wealthy (growing up) with old family estates, many of which had lawn jockeys from past generations, and all of the families I knew got rid of them during the '60s.
I guess I can perpetuate a little stereotyping of my own when I notice that all the “its ok, go ahead and give a black lawn jockey for a present” people are from southern states. And no, we don’t consider Maryland a northern state. This whole thread demonstrates not only racism, but ignorance. Sweet people.[/QUOTE]
Ditto, couldn’t have said it better (or kinder) myself.
