Black Kids Called Monkeys, Obama Delegate Quits

Ramirez Sliwinski said she saw two boys climbing a tree next door to her home about 1 p.m. Saturday and asked them to stop. The mother of one of the boys called police after Ramirez Sliwinski referred to the children, ages 8 and 9, as monkeys.

Ramirez Sliwinski, who is Hispanic, was issued a citation alleging that she violated a village ordinance prohibiting disorderly conduct. 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.

The mother told police her son and a friend were playing in a tree in front of their house in the 0-99 block of Sparrow Road when Ramirez Sliwinski came outside and told them to quit playing in the tree like monkeys, Kilbourne said.

Ramirez Sliwinski, who has been an opponent of efforts by some on the Village Board to crack down on illegal immigrants, said she meant no racial undertones by her comment.

She said the parents were outside, but she intervened because she was concerned about the boys' safety and because the small magnolia tree was being damaged.

"I went over to the kids and told them to get out of the tree," Ramirez Sliwinski said.

The father of one of the boys told her it was none of her business, she said, and "I calmly said the tree is not there for them to be climbing in there like monkeys."

There has been friction between Ramirez Sliwinski and her neighbors in the past. She said she has told them to turn down loud music and has instructed them on how to properly use the village's new garbage bins.

Ramirez Sliwinski said she intends to contest the citation in an effort to force the neighbors to talk to her.

A Barack Obama supporter has given up her role as a pledged delegate after the campaign found "unacceptable" her description of her neighbor's children as "monkeys," which she says she called them because they were climbing in trees.

Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, an a Hispanic trustee for the Village of Carpentersville, Ill., was accused of racism following the interaction with her African-American neighbors.

"Given the incident, she is stepping down and will be replaced as delegate," Ben Labolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign told FOXNews.com, calling Sliwinski's remarks "unacceptable."

The campaign discussed the incident with Ramirez-Sliwinski, who decided to step aside as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in August, Labolt said.

Apr 9, 2008 5:34 PM (11 hrs ago) AP
CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. (Map, News) - An Illinois woman who referred to black children as "monkeys" said Wednesday she is staying on as a delegate for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The Obama campaign had said Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski was stepping down, but she says that was never her plan.

"I was elected by the people to represent Senator Obama, and I will continue to do what the people want," she said.

...

The Obama campaign said Wednesday it respects her decision to stay on as a delegate and believes she didn't intend any offense by using the word "monkeys."

"It is clear the incident was a misunderstanding," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

Carpentersville Trustee Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski, who Saturday likened her black neighbors' children to monkeys, did not quit her post as a Barack Obama pledged delegate after all, she said Wednesday.

"It was never my intent to step down," Ramirez-Sliwinski said. "It was a misunderstanding with one of Obama's staff."

Ramirez-Sliwinski was elected an Obama delegate in the February primary.

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, on Tuesday said the trustee had decided to relinquish her delegate post because of the flap with her neighbors.

But that declaration was reversed when the trustee had a change of heart late Tuesday evening after multiple discussions with campaign officers, LaBolt said Wednesday.

"Ramirez-Sliwinski is an elected delegate, and we respect her decision to represent the campaign at the convention," LaBolt said. "It is clear that the incident was a misunderstanding."

However, Ramirez-Sliwinski said Wednesday she never indicated she would step down and that there was miscommunication.

"It was just a misunderstanding," Ramirez-Sliwinski said, "just like it was with my neighbors."

...

Georgia Lockett, whose child was one of those in the tree, has vowed to involve the Rainbow PUSH Coalition if Ramirez-Sliwinski challenges the ticket.

Lockett, who initially called police to the scene, had no comment Wednesday about the Obama campaign's stance on the incident.

The Rev. Walter Blalark, president of the Northwest suburban chapter of Rainbow PUSH, accused the campaign of sweeping the racial issue "under the rug."

"It's almost like Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man.' Here we are again becoming invisible because our issues are not important," said Blalark, who is also pastor of Elgin's Living Gospel Church of God in Christ.

Obama campaign officer LaBolt declined to address that claim.

"I've already given you my comment for the story," he said.

Dametta Stewart, whose children were also targets of the trustee's remark, could not be reached for comment.

One of the few things that seem quite certain is that Ramirez-Sliwinski was issued a ticket for disorderly conduct after she told her neighbor's tree-climbing children to "quit playing in the tree like monkeys."

That, and the fact that the neighbor children are black and Ramirez-Sliwinski is not.

The children's parents say the remark was meant as a racial slur. And they've vowed to involve the Rainbow PUSH Coalition if Ramirez-Sliwinski contests the disorderly conduct ticket.

Ramirez-Sliwinski, meanwhile, says she meant nothing derogatory by the expression, that it's the kind of thing people often call children and that she intended no racial implication by the words.

It also seems apparent that she and her neighbors have been at odds repeatedly over the years.

Beyond that, what do we know? Only that this altercation and the response to it has mushroomed way beyond reasonable proportions.

Certainly, one matter that calls out for explanation is the ticket issued against her. What happened in the Saturday encounter that would justify a citation for disorderly conduct? On the surface, yelling for children to get out of a tree wouldn't seem to merit the charge. Did something else take place? If so, police ought to reveal it. If not, we question the judgment involved.

The heart of the matter is the charge of racial overtones in a suburb widely perceived, fairly or not, as a home to all kinds of ethnic prejudices.

Was Ramirez-Sliwinski's remark intended to carry racial overtones? Who in the end can know? We've haven't seen, in our coverage of her as a village trustee, anything to indicate a prejudice on her part toward blacks. And her support of black presidential candidate Barack Obama seems to contradict the claim.

At the same time, it's understandable that the family on the receiving end of the comment may have heard it as prejudicial, especially if it was said in the heat of anger.

Could it be, in the end, a case of two cultures that genuinely hear one expression with two different sets of ears?

At the moment, this is a heated controversy. But it offers the opportunity for growth and understanding.

Rather than ending in a destructive divide exacerbated by political correctness, we hope Ramirez-Sliwinski and the community use it as the beginning of a constructive dialogue on race, sensitivity and perspective.

If it succeeds at that, a nasty neighborhood dispute actually could end in some greater good.

Quote:

The Rev. Walter Blalark, president of the Northwest suburban chapter of Rainbow PUSH, accused the campaign of sweeping the racial issue "under the rug."

"It's almost like Ralph Ellison's 'Invisible Man.' Here we are again becoming invisible because our issues are not important," said Blalark, who is also pastor of Elgin's Living Gospel Church of God in Christ.

Quote:

At the moment, this is a heated controversy. But it offers the opportunity for growth and understanding.

Rather than ending in a destructive divide exacerbated by political correctness, we hope Ramirez-Sliwinski and the community use it as the beginning of a constructive dialogue on race, sensitivity and perspective.

If it succeeds at that, a nasty neighborhood dispute actually could end in some greater good.

Apr 9, 2008 5:34 PM (11 hrs ago) AP
CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. (Map, News) - An Illinois woman who referred to black children as "monkeys" said Wednesday she is staying on as a delegate for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The Obama campaign had said Linda Ramirez-Sliwinski was stepping down, but she says that was never her plan.

"I was elected by the people to represent Senator Obama, and I will continue to do what the people want," she said.

...

The Obama campaign said Wednesday it respects her decision to stay on as a delegate and believes she didn't intend any offense by using the word "monkeys."

"It is clear the incident was a misunderstanding," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

on the other hand, she's not qualified to be an Obama delegate if she didn't know that monkey is not an appropriate term of reference to African-Americans.

No . . . your dog . . .

careful chai.... you'll be drummed out of the enlightened club...

Does this mean the next time someone calls me a honkey, a term from the 50's or 60's, I can call a cop and have him issue them a ticket for whatever?