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A Carpentersville woman who serves as a village trustee was asked to step down as an Obama delegate over an incident in which she called the children of her African-American neighbors "monkeys." Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski was fined $75 and ticketed for disorderly conduct for the incident, which happened last Saturday.
Ramirez-Sliwinski "came outside and told the children to quit playing in the tree like monkeys. The tree was not on Ramirez-Sliwinski's property," Carpentersville Police Commander Michael Kilbourne said.Ramirez-Sliwinski stepped down from her delegate position at the request of the Obama campaign and also stated she would not run again for village trustee position.Ramirez-Sliwinski admitted she used the word "monkeys," but said she did not intend racism. She said she was only trying to protect them from falling out of the tree.
Ramirez-Sliwinski, who is Hispanic, and her neighbors have an allegedly rocky history. Village President Bart Sarto's view seems relatively sane: “I think this entire thing has been blown out of proportion…She went over to caution the children to be careful not to fall out of a tree.” Sarto adds that the Village Board has “a trustee who has been convicted on four counts of domestic battery and refuses to resign from the board. He beat his wife with a baseball bat. This seems far less egregious to me.”
Uh, what the hell is going on in Carpentersville? [Trib, S-T]
Image of Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski from the Village of Carpentersville website
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She probably had to go because Clinton would have shamelessly capitalized on this.
whoa. i'm not sure we should be pulling out the racist card on this one. i see a bunch of children hanging out of trees, and there's a solid 41% chance i'm gonna think "monkeys" regardless of ethnicity.
i call bullshit on this one.
umm. how the hell did she get fined and ticketed for disorderly conduct for this? was she standing out there screaming for hours?!?! i don't get it.
@Smussy:
Per the Trib's story: "The ordinance bans conduct that disturbs or alarms people, and one of the boys told police he was scared by Ramirez Sliwinski's comment, Police Cmdr. Michael Kilbourne said."
Aside from this incident, Carpentersville has been a nasty hotbed for racial problems.
For a more complete idea of what's going on in Carpentersville, check out this New York Times Magazine article by Alex Kotlowitz. It was featured last August.
Hey Matty, nice way to attack Clinton, o.k. yea it was funny and it would be a real stretch to use this to prove my belief that racist "moderate" white Americans are supporting O'Bama because he makes them feel comfortable and they know that he's not gonna rock the boat like Hillary might. But I did think about it! :-)
And no body says Monkey like Dave Chappell, says "Monkey"!
But honestly what's up with not letting kids climb trees? That seems unAmerican to me?
I use to love to climb trees and I think I might have climbed one a few years ago, but as I think alcohol was involved, I can't remember :-)
@Marcus -- based upon that statement, the boys should then be prosecuted as they clearly alarmed Ms. Ramirez-Sliwinski.
I think this is kind of bullshit too...
They tried to crucify Howard Cosell in the eighties for announcing, "look at that little monkey go," in reference to a black football player running after a reception. He had, in fact, used that phrase to approvingly describe small, athletic players of all ethnicities--the proof was in earlier broadcasts...
The kids were climbing in the tree; monkeys climb trees. As Bart Santo pointed out, it would have been an entirely different matter if she had referred to the kids as 'monkeys' outside the context of climbing a tree...
I'm as white as they come, and I was always referred to as a monkey in my youth for climbing trees.
This is some bull-puckey.
This is just ABSURD
I grew up climbing on an iron skeleton known as the "monkey bars". The shame of it.
My all time favorite politically incorrect "gaffe":
During the 1996 Rose Bowl against Northwestern, USC Wide Receiver Keyshawn Johnson caught a ball and ran down the field for a good twenty yards before being forced out of bounds. Keith Jackson then announces, in his rich baritone, "Look at that looooong legged thoroughbred go!"
Nice.
The Libs are now freaking out on the Libs. Even a neo-con like myself says to leave this person alone.
a) As absurd as this is, I actually wouldn't be shocked if one of the kids really was affected by being called a monkey. But even if that were the case, a reasonable parent would explain the situation to the child.
b) That disorderly conduct law is so vague that it's unenforceable. How it ever became law is a mystery to me. The ticket should be thrown out for this reason alone.
@plum: Billy Packer surpassed that one when he referred to Allen Iverson as a "tough monkey" during a Georgetown game years ago.
Maybe Philip Roth can spin this into another cautionary tale of how political correctness can run amuck.
That's why you don't yell at other people's kids.