Racist Halloween Display?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

This is by my house. Apparently, they've been putting that exact same display up for years. I don't know. I just find pointy-headed sheeted ghosts surrounding a black person up against a tree, racist looking. To make it even weirder, I don't like in a redneck area. I live in a moderate Jewish community in North Jersey.

[Nailzberg]

1. Damn. I wouldn't want to be a black guy in that neighborhood.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. There really aren't any black guys in this neighborhood

I never found it racist though.

[cmf]

2. That's pretty messed up.

Do you know what the sign near the flag says?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. The sign is just his address.

[supernova]

3. What does the sign say?

While it might depend on who's doing the display, it's tasteless in any event.

edit: now that I see that's a yellow ribbon on the tree. Yes, it's tasteless, and real-world scary to boot. :scared:

[Renew Deal]

4. Those look like pointy hoods.

What's the point of the single black person. That is strange. And it looks like they made the hoods pointy. Also the hanging "spooks" are strange. Northern Jersey has had racial problems in the past. I guess you should ask them if they have heard of free republic.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Hackettstown can be scary

I used to go to school at Centenary College. The KKK leader of NJ apparently lives in Hackettstown. I noticed some rebel flags going up just for Martin Luther King Day.

[ComerPerro]

8. OMFG

That is really, really fucked up.

[Bake]

9. I think you're looking for something that isn't there

The spooks are hanging from the tree to get them off the ground. Why? Because ghosts can FLY, FLOAT, etc.; they're not being lynched--hell, if they're ghosts, they're ALREADY DEAD. The ones on the ground are pointy-headed only to the extent that they are held up by sticks, which is obviously the easiest way to make a ghost-sheet stand up. If they were going for a KKK look, they did a really lousy job of it.

I've seen stuff like this for years and never given it a third thought.

Bake

[Scottie72]

12. That is exactly what I thought also

at first glance but when it was pointed out that there was an African American by the tree surrounded by the white hooded ghost my perception changed dramatically. I do believe wether intentional or not it can be perceived and most likely is racist.

[DoNotRefill]

10. looks to me...

like the "heads" slipped off of the supporting stakes, giving it the pointy-hat look.

You might give the person an anonymous call, tell them they look like Klansmen, ask if that was the intent, and see if the owner fixes the problem. If it's fixed, then it sounds like it wasn't intended to be racist.

[soleft]

11. The figure by the tree almost looks like Fred Berry

Except maybe too thin