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Gone Bananas

A while back, I posted about a woman who complained that bananas are offensive. Gwen Stewart made her complaint to the mayor of Columbus, GA, Bob Poydasheff, because the offending banana eater was a cop ... a cop who was at an MLK parade providing security for the participants.

She has now enlisted the aid of U.S. Congressman Tom Price in her vendetta against the Columbus Police Department. He has written to Columbus Police Chief Ricky Boren requesting that he address the complaint and forward copies of any correspondence to him.

Boren sent the letter from Price to the mayor, who sent his response. Copies of that letter have been sent to U.S. Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, and to Congressmen Sanford Bishop, Phil Gingrey and Lynn Westmoreland.

Why?

That should be a question being asked by everyone involved. The answer lies solely with Ms Stewart. And what does this lady have to say? Nothing ...

She will not give the detailed reason that she was offended. She just was. Anyone should know why, and if they don't, they should go and find out.

Tim Chitwood, columnist for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, would like to know also.

When I wrote a column about this Jan. 28, I relied on city officials' assessment that Stewart was offended because racists have compared black people to apes, at times, and in the context of a civil rights march, the bananas might be taken as a symbolic slur.

But I've since talked to Stewart twice by phone, and she would not tell me why she was insulted, and apparently she never told the mayor, either. In his letter to Price, Poydasheff writes: "Incidentally, through all of my communication with Mrs. Stewart concerning this matter, she has never told me why she was offended by the officers' conduct."

Stewart tells me she shouldn't have to explain that. People should know why that's offensive, and if they don't, then they need to find out. But they're not going to find out from her -- even though she's the one complaining about it.

So these public officials are writing letters about a complaint from someone who won't explain why she complained. And they aren't the only ones writing about it, and neither am I.

Atlanta radio host Neal Boortz picked up on it, and posted it on his Web site Feb. 14. From there it spread across the Internet as bloggers got it from Boortz and posted it on their sites. I didn't get any credit for breaking the story, of course, and now I don't know whether to feel relieved or to say I'm deeply offended and demand an apology.

Hey now! I linked to your first story in my post, Tim! Now I'm offended!

Anyway, being curious about this bananas being offensive thing, I decided to ask a black male co-worker about it. I think he thought I had lost my mind. I sent him the link to both of Tim Chitwood's articles. After he read them, he was sure the whole world had gone crazy.

We're going to try an experiment. I will eat a banana and he will see if that offends him. Then he will eat some crackers to see if that bothers me. He could also try potatos to see if he can offend my Irish sensibilities, or spaghetti for my Italian side. We may recruit a Hispanic fellow in this and see if he gets all bent out of shape if we eat beans. We also have a Chinese dude there ... should we eat rice, or fortune cookies to see if he gets offended? This could get quite interesting ... or we may just end up having a nice little international feast.

With Bananas Foster for dessert, of course ...


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