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Illinois delegate for Obama resigns after 'monkey' remark

CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. --
An Illinois delegate for presidential candidate Barack Obama resigned Tuesday after she used the word "monkeys" to describe black children playing in a tree.

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, a trustee in the Chicago suburb of Carpentersville, was issued a $75 ticket for disorderly conduct after neighbors complained to police. She says the word wasn't meant racially and she will fight the ticket.

"Given the incident, Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski is stepping down as a delegate and will be replaced," said Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage.

The incident took place Saturday, when two children were playing in a tree next door to Ramirez-Sliwinski's house.

She said the parents were outside supervising the children, but she went over and told them to get out of the tree because she was concerned about the boys' safety and because the small magnolia tree was being damaged.

The father of one of the boys told her it was none of her business, she said, and "I calmly said the tree is not there for them to be climbing in there like monkeys."

The mother of one boy called police.

Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said a ticket was issued because the ordinance bans conduct that disturbs or alarms people, and one of the boys told police he was scared by her comment.

Ramirez-Sliwinski says she doesn't plan to run for another term on the village board.

I fail to see how one could see that as racist  ???

At one time black people were considered to be slightly above a monkey on the evolutionary scale. In fact some people called them monkeys because of that. In the 20's and 30's there were cartoons that depicted black people as monkey's based on this evolutionary thinking. So I can rightly see them being upset if these children were in fact being called monkeys in a hateful manner.

However it is clear in this situation that was not the intent of this woman. If this same statement had been made about white children (which it is quite common to do also) there would not have been a problem with it.

Political Correctness has GONE CRAZY!

I had no idea that the term "monkey" was associated with any race. I know the term has been associated with me many times when I was growing up, and it was many times used when I was climbing a tree or climbing something else I had been told not to. I thought that "monkey" was used many times to refer to children because they are so curious and always getting into things.

I think that things are getting so ridiculous that many people are becoming scared to talk with someone different than they are, and I'm sure this isn't good. Some words are obviously offensive, but we would have to be mind-readers to determine every word that offends someone else. I can assure everyone that the police have much more important things to do than running out to give someone a ticket for something as silly as this is. There was supposed to be more than one adult present in this situation, so COLLECTIVELY they should have been smart enough to settle this in a mature fashion without calling the police. However, I guess that having at least one mature person in a group of adults isn't that common these days.

(Small Print: Now, I'm thinking about making a police report for mother calling me a monkey. It was 55 years ago, but I NEVER GOT OVER IT!)   ::)   ::)   :o   :o   ;D   ;D   8)

So I wonder just what is the statute of limitations on racism?  :P

 ;D  In reflection, I'm sure my mother didn't mean anything about race at all. At the time, I didn't know what the word "race" meant, but I did know a little bit about monkeys because of going to a zoo and the circus. So, I doubt that I'll be able to base my claims on race. It will probably have to do with something like "Mental Abuse", and I have evidence of that.   ;D   ;D

Which brings up the question.... if child abuse is abusing your child and your mother says that you will always be her little boy (or girl) does that mean it is child abuse when you are 34 and she calls you a name?

Still a child at the age of 34? Now that is parent abuse.

 ;D

I think these are examples of getting something unreasonable to stretch. AND, I think the same is true for the case this thread is about. Our examples are probably more reasonable than the original example. I think that the bottom line is that ridiculous things like this won't do a single thing to improve race relations. In fact, I think they will have the opposite effect. Besides, there are REAL and OUTRAGEOUS cases that could be dealt with.