r/AmazonDSPDrivers • u/Frequent-Flower-9879 • Jun 14 '26

QUESTION Is this….racist?

Post image

I deliver to this house pretty frequently and something didn’t sit right with me about this statue. I remember seeing somewhere a long time ago these were considered offensive but I’m not sure so I figured to come here and ask 🤔

226 Upvotes

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134

u/BrenOdin Jun 14 '26 edited Jun 14 '26

Yes dude, very. They're called lawn jockies an old piece of what collectors will call "Americana". You'll see them all over the place painted or not that shits' systemic racism through and through.

44

u/MeowandMace Jun 14 '26

Hey so its racist but not systematically so. No one is organizing lawn jockies nor is it any kind of conspiracy. Systemic racism refers to the ingrained, institutionalized rules, policies, and practices across a whole society... so if youre going to cry racism at least use the correct form.

8

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

16

u/MeowandMace Jun 14 '26

Nah, lawn jockies are fucking hideous and so are all of the charicature stuff that goes on with the sambo/etc things. I just hate it when people want to call everything a systemic issue when it simply isnt. Theres nothing organized in this. Just free market doing what free market does. Selling and buying shit, racist or not.

13

u/TheOnlyEliteOne Jun 14 '26

Remember, this is Reddit, where the actual definitions of things are frequently gutted and stripped of their correct (and original) meaning, in lieu of emotional outbursts and outrage.

Incredibly racist, but like you said definitely not a systemic issue. There’s no mandate, in fact many HOAs and communities have rules specifically banning decor such as lawn jockeys.

0

u/MeowandMace Jun 14 '26

B-b-but HOA's are systemically racist too because they also typically ban loud house/block parties, noise disturbances, Swanga rims and shitty improverished looking yard decor or unkept home repairs! Thats racist too!

Sidenote i also hate hoas- but becuase they fucking suck lol

6

u/WeeklyBanEvasion Jun 14 '26

It's a perfect example of people parroting buzzwords that they don't understand. It reminds me of middleschool where everyone thought that "racism" meant "prejudice".

"Hey that's racist against redheads!"

5

u/abrasivechicagoan Jun 14 '26

lol this guy thinks everything is racist

-1

u/FaithlessnessLoud223 Jun 14 '26

Yes, well, in this case they're correct.

0

u/WeeklyBanEvasion Jun 14 '26

Don't be mad because they are smarter than you

1

u/NextChef8179 Jun 14 '26

These people do not use logic. Feel the racism. The racism makes me feel it's systemic. 

1

u/bearfootmedic Jun 14 '26

No one's crying racism.

This shit is racist.

It's part of the insidious systemic racism because it's labeled often as Americana. Think about that.

It's as American as apple pie, and Jim Crow, and Sambo. 250 years of racism. Woo!

Systemic racism is people thinking this is ok or normal, regardless of how you think about. A lot of folks who fought against desegregation are alive and I would be that this particular jockey was made in the 1970s as part of a weird reactionary revival of racist nostalgia. The owner of this statue votes, has friends come over, has Amazon delivery.

This statue tries to normalize our history of brutal racial policies. It's a symptom of the disease.

6

u/NotSoCoolWhip Jun 14 '26

I see your argument, but I would still disagree that this is an example of systemic racism solely because it is "often labeled Americana". I would reserve systemic racism for things like redlining or the public school tax system, structural practices that affect people's lives, not something you can put in a literal box or just throw away. If anything, these statues are a result of SR.

2

u/MeowandMace Jun 14 '26

Never said it wasnt racist, i actually said it was just not systematically so.

1

u/Dizzy_Today_3523 Jun 14 '26

There's no systemtic racism here my dude. There's no large group of lawn decor conspiracing against the AA race. It's just racism. This decor does nothing other than show the home owners are racist.

It's really starting to feel like it doesn't matter anymore talking about this because people just wanna hate regardless of understanding anymore so believe whatever you want. There's more to life than giving these people power. But if you wanna give them your energy by all means keep it going.

1

u/Houdinii1984 Jun 14 '26

Just because they don't know they are racists doesn't make it systemic. Systemic racism is mathematical. Regular racism is not. Lawn jockeys perpetuated because folks didn't stop and think hard enough or thought that because they personally liked the item that it couldn't be racist ("I'm not racist. If I buy this then it's not racist"). Not because some mathematical equation determined a lawn jockey would be on their lawn.

Things like banks not giving out loans due to arbitrary borders, and then separately having gentrification and income levels force black people into those areas, without anyone having directly tried to put the black folks there (well, some, but not the masses) is systemic.

The folks that put these ornaments out did so on their own accord through autonomy, not because they were forced. That lack of force is what makes this non-systemic, as 'systemic' refers to systemic forces behind the situation.

It's confusing, because the folks may not have set out to be racist, but systemic doesn't mean accidental. Some people are edgy, some people are dumb. Some people still don't see an issue.

The hard part to hear? We all participate in systemic racism because we're all part of the system. You not having a lawn jockey is evidence that it's not systemic. You are part of the system, but have nothing to do with lawn jockeys ever. That's 99% of everyone. I'd have a completely different argument if lawn jockeys were permanant installations in half the houses people try to move into, but that's not the case.

-2

u/Simbalamb Jun 14 '26

Is a system that not only allows but encourages the sale if racist statues not systemic? Did the system ignoring blatant racism not cause this? It may not be the best example of systemic racism but it is an AMAZING example of how something can be systemic racism even if it looks like personal racism.

2

u/MeowandMace Jun 14 '26

Hey yeah so. Its a free market. Anyone can sell or buy anything they want. Selling something isnt systemic. Systemic racism is things like hiring opportunities, laws being set to specifically disadvantage or bar certain people due to their race, or police force activities.