Mayor Who Sent Obama Watermelon Email Quits

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — The mayor of a small Southern California city who was criticized for sending an e-mail showing watermelons in front of the White House says he will give up the mayoral post but remain on the City Council.

Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose heard calls for his resignation this week when he forwarded an e-mail showing a watermelon patch on the White House lawn under the title: "No Easter egg hunt this year."

Grose has apologized and said he wasn't aware of the racial stereotype that blacks like watermelon.

Officials in the Orange County town say Grose will officially resign as mayor on Monday. But Grose told KCAL-TV on Friday that he intends to remain on the City Council.

The mayor is a council member chosen to serve in that position by fellow members of the five-seat council.

Comments

[dayindayout]

He didn't know. Is he serious?, people ask. Well, as the media and many people keep saying, the U.S. is now post-racial. There is no more racism, right?

This is ridiculous, but you have people who try to sell this lunacy all the time. We have a Black president, so of course there is no more racism, they say.

Again, this is why I say that AG Holder's call for a conversation is warranted. He called people cowards, and he must have been right because this mayor showed his cowardice by feigning ignorance of the stereotype. If he was this unaware, then he has no business being the mayor of any city.

[allieq]

YES! Justice is starting to prevail..I wrote an email to this jerk the day the story broke. He has no business running an American city. Let's push out these embarrassing, old, racist, tired politicians. They are keeping our country from reaching it's full potential.

[CommonSenseMom]

He deserves to lose his position, that was an amazingly stupid thing to do.

[ammitusen]

idiotic racist mayor aside, wouldn't it be cool if a huge garden was planted on the White House lawn? not just watermelons but all kinds of veggies. what the wasn't used for White House dinners could be distributed to the needy. be a nice example to the nation. a White House victory garden.

[mellene]

Maybe he'll think twice next time before sending out racially insensitive cartoons. What a fool.

[MIVOTE]

Grose said he didn't mean to offend anyone and claimed he was unaware of the racial stereotype linking black people with eating watermelons....pleeeze! If that was the case why not an email with California organes on the lawn. Another Repub lyer, lyer pants on fire.!

[jozinha]

Does he pronounce his name Grosé, or is it just plain Gross.

[huffingt]

stupid people never grow.

[Hopskippy]

You can always tell who the repugs fear by the lies they spread . We have our country back now, it will be a long time before evil rules again in AMERICA !!

[ilovevegas]

Doesn't matter Kelsey Ruiz remember Freedom of relegion?

[Token12ga]

The funny part is that he thought he would send that nonsense to a few friends, never in a million years thinking it would come back to bite him so hard!

[ben76]

Obviously wrong and very unprofessional to have this type of stuff found to be worth e-mailing around by ELECTED OFFICIALS however I bet Preesident Obama and Mrs. Obama do not get "upset" by this crap. That is something that makes it so powerful the REACTION. I hope to live in a world someday where these racial stereotypes are not powerful to offend the masses. Maybe that is just me but it is silly how images and words can hold sooo much power

[bluesjones63]

I beg to differ with your conclusion. Achieving, successful African-Americans NEVER forget THE CRAP.

We have just perfected white upper & middle-class behaviors!

[Kelsey Ruiz]

Here's a interesting observation. Has anyone noticed, as we've all focused on racial insensitivity, that nobody has breached the religious implications of that joke email? What was it, something like 'No Easter Egg Hunt This Year"? Does anybody think that there's is a message here about Obama's religious beliefs? I'm curious to know what others think.

[houstonbch]

nothing religious about this, just straight racism. And what a punk (the mayor) for his I didn't know it was racist reply. At least be a man and admit it - or, if nothing else, don't lie about it.

[chronic5]

I made that observation a couple time here too. I think it was meant to stir the religious extremists against the President and haven't heard any confirmations anywhere in regards to the Obamas' plans for Easter but remember that in the last few years under President Bush is was becoming a serious security and logistics issue.

[Cdcoop]

Well, I heard one morning on the Tom Joyner show that there will be a Easter egg hunt at the WH this year.....Tom's granddaughter got an invite.

Where has this mayor been living all his life...perhaps we should really start checking birth certificates.....this is just a horrible racist act from a very out of touch individual....glad he quit!!!

[yappnmutt]

he doesn't believe in the easter bunny?

[d00derman]

I saw this as a replacement of Easter tradition, not a removal of the Easter tradition.

[simplysimon2]

GOOD PICK UP. THE MAYOR MAY BE INSENSITIVE BUT TO GET 2 INSULTS IN ONE PIX SHOWS A MADE-TO-ORDER NEW TALENT FOR FOX NEWS.

[Jazzman323]

Comparing Easter eggs to watermelon? It wasn't funny. Couldn't the mayor just apologize for having a bad sense of humor?

[allieq]

That's like making him say, "Sorry I am a total racist. But all of the African Americans in Los Alamitos, don't mind me...I'm just running your city. Really..you can trust that I have your best interests at heart." It's blatant racism, not poor humor.

[bluesjones63]

Having a "bad sense of humor" has LONG been used to explain away covert racism.

The mayor's APOLOGY is neither defensible, HONEST, nor acceptable.

[cloudmaker]

Bye. Bye.