Racially Insensitive Question
Is there a stereotype about black people’s lawns always looking like shit? Because I’m thinking about starting one.
Update: Ok, ok, fine. It’s in bad taste. It’s a joke, get over it. BTW, the Mexicans who live up the street have an immaculate lawn.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:51 am
Dumb question, but why are these posts showing up as Jan 19th? It’s only 2048 PST, which makes it 2248 in TN. Which means it’s still the 18th.
Sorry, but that’s been bugging me for quite a while.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:21 am
To be fair, for every black person with a shitty lawn, there’s a white person with a broken-down car (or 2 or 3) in theirs.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Because I blog from the future!
I think the time setting on my server is off.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:44 am
And you’re basing this on….?
January 19th, 2007 at 9:57 am
The two black families that live in my neighborhood have the worst lawns. I found it odd. Seriously, they look like deserts with a few weeds thrown in.
Yah, it’s insensitive but I found it odd.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
The black couple that lives across from me not only has a really nice lawn, but kick ass landscaping too. It’s my house that has the shitty lawn 🙂 Part of my lawn is made of red stone, the rest is driveway. I do have some green, but if I ever applied weed killer to it, I would have dirt.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
That’s what my lawn looks like, but I’m a renter and I don’t care.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I think it’s people who hate yardwork who have lawns that look like shit, like mine.
Either that, or I’m black. =)
January 19th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
The two black families that live in my neighborhood have the worst lawns. I found it odd. Seriously, they look like deserts with a few weeds thrown in.
Wouldn’t that be “anecdotal evidence” and not enough to justify a new racial stereotype?
January 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Well, yeah. Obviously, it’s not as funny as I thought it was.
BTW, check your email for something you may want to be aware of (in case your spam filter eats it).
January 19th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
My lawn looks like shit, and I’m not black. Least I wasn’t when I woke up this morning.
January 19th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
As long as we’re being racially insensitive, my neighborhood has had a large influx of Mexican population, and the quality of landscaping in my area has improved dramatically. 🙂
And for what it’s worth, I live on a corner lot, and have two adjacent neighbors: a black family, and a group of white people (who I don’t think were family). The black family’s house/lawn/landscaping have always been well-maintained, if somewhat basic. The white people parked cars in the front, never cut the weeds (there is no “grass”), and had birds nesting in their attic. So my anecdote counter’s Uncle’s. (The white folks, thankfully, were foreclosed on and gone — the house has now been on the market for several months. Wonder why nobody’s buying it…)
January 19th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Tom, I swear, i cross posted the update to this post at exctly the same time you commented.
HA
January 19th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
We have a black family that moved in to the basement of our next door neighbors (a white Irish family).
THeir lawn looked like shit before, and it still looks like shit.
The presence of black tenants in the basement hasn’t had a positive or negative impact on thier landscaping (though someone caught their son breaking glass bottles in the park last week and my wife saw him scrawling big swastikas with chalk on the road the otherday )
January 19th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
and speaking of mexicans. The neighbor on the other side is mexican.
Well, the wife is. Her husband is Japanese. Lawn looks like crap too.
But that might be cause she’s an architect and hes a rocket scientist with NASA.
January 19th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
of course, it could be that both lawns look like crap cause its January
January 19th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Mine looks bad because I am a lazy ass. When it starts to green up in Memphis again I will get it in tip top shape, even got yard of the month once. January is bad for yards, between the leaves and the limbs and what not. Don’t get me wrong I am as racist as the next guy but I can’t see blaming anybody for the weather.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Whatever about starting a new stereotype but you’ve attacked an old one — that the neighbor’s grass alway looks greener.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Heh. I’m used to poor jokes falling on their faces. I do it all the time. But it reminds me of a comic from MAD magazine’s Dave Berg thirty-something-upmty-ump years ago (yeah, I’m old. Shut up).
Three upper-middle-class homeowners had a new neighbor who had inherited some money and bought there. It went something like:
“I hear our new neighbor is a lower-class guy who came into money”
“He’ll probably let his yard go to hell and have broken down cars in the driveway”
“We’d better have a talk with him to set him straight.”
So they go over to see him and knock on the door.
“We’re your new neighbors and we’d like to talk to you…”
“Yeah, I’d like to tawk to youse guys too. I sunk a lotta dough inta this house and I don’t want the property value goin’ down ’cause youse guys don’ take care o’ your yawds.”
[they slink away]
“I guess my grass could use some mowing.”
“Yeah, and my window trim could use a touch up…”