Restaurant serves "Half-Breed" hamburgers

‘Half-Breed’ and ‘Dirty Drunken Half-Breed’ chucked from burger menu

By Jayme PoissonThe owners of a popular Toronto hamburger joint have taken two items off their menu after facing a slew of complaints that the burgers were given derogatory names.

The “Half-Breed” burger and “The Dirty Drunken Half-Breed” burger had been staples on the menu at Holy Chuck Burgers for about seven months. Last week, after one customer’s objection swelled into a larger protest, the shop was inundated with phone calls and online criticisms.

Co-owner Bill Koutroubis told the Star on Wednesday that he never intended to offend anyone, and neither he nor his partner realized the term is considered a racial slur.

“To racially slur an ethnicity in a multicultural society, it’s the totally wrong thing to do,” said Koutroubis, clearly upset. He added that his background is Greek and that he would never knowingly insult another cultural group.

“We apologized on Twitter and again I reiterate the apology . . . It was never meant to be malicious; it was just an innocent play on words on our part.”

Back in December, local Geoff King flagged Holy Chuck’s Twitter account about the offensive nature of the term. The restaurant responded by saying that wasn’t how they saw it, and Koutroubis said Wednesday they didn’t look up the word afterwards.

“The term ‘half-breed,’ if you look it up in just about any dictionary, is really a negative, disparaging and offensive term used to describe people of mixed ancestry, specifically people of mixed indigenous and non-indigenous ancestry,” explained Ryerson University professor Pamela Palmater.

“Now add dirty and drunken to the term half-breed and it takes it to a much higher level in terms of the level of insult that you’re talking about.”Comment:  Koutroubis is being disingenuous. Here's how he supposedly came up with the name:Koutroubis said the term “half-breed” was coined because the patties are mixed with two different kinds of meat—half cured bacon and half beef.

For the burger with extra toppings they chose “drunken,” because the veal cheek vino chili topping has alcohol. And, “dirty,” because it’s messy.That doesn't answer the question of how the name came to resemble a Native slur. Was it just the world's biggest coincidence? I doubt it.

He undoubtedly heard the slur and thought it would be "funny" to use it. Which makes this another example of hipster racism. Then he got schooled by the critics.

But at first that wasn't enough. When people told him the names were slurs, he said he didn't see it that way and didn't look them up. He obviously didn't care about anyone's feelings. Only when he received a firestorm of protests did he remove the items and apologize.

So, to review: Koutroubis intentionally chose offensive names. He stuck with them when he was told they were offensive. He changed them not because he eventually realized the harm, but because they were hurting his business.

Sounds like a typical conservative to me. He doesn't let facts get in the way of his opinions. As with a bad child or dog, you generally can't reason with these people. You have to punish them, teach them a lesson, before they get the message.

For more Stereotype of the Month entries, see Echo's "Weekend Warrior" Line and Indian Chief Bust at White Faux Taxidermy.

Below:  "Bill Koutroubis, co-owner of Holy Chuck restaurant, says he took the items dubbed 'The Half-Breed' and 'The Dirty Drunken Half-Breed' off the menu (now hidden under white tape on the sign) after learning of the term's derogatory connotations. The Twitter user who first brought it to the restaurant's attention months ago wonders why they didn't look up the meaning immediately." (Jayme Poisson/Toronto Star)

"Native Representations in Video Games"

Native American Images in Video Games

By Latoya PetersonDirected and narrated by Irish, Anishinaabe, Metis writer Beth Aileen Lameman and edited by Beaver Lake Cree filmmaker Myron Lameman, the video looks at really common stereotypes being deployed in game narratives. Lameman points to the common framings of “cowboys vs. Indians,” guides, and “wise old Indians” and heavy doses of the white savior narrative and the “half-breed hero” trope.

Comment:  For more on Native video games, see "Racism, Stereotypes, and the Digitized Indian" and Videos on Video-Game Natives.

Why not rewrite Twain's books?

Apparently the biggest objection to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer is that black children are horrified and traumatized when they read the n-word. I haven't heard of white children being traumatized by this word, and it didn't traumatize me when I read Huck Finn in high school. Nor have I heard of black or white children being traumatized by the words "Injun" and "half-breed."

This suggests a better solution than simply sanitizing the books of every objectionable ethnic slur in them. The publisher could develop a black edition without the words offensive to blacks and an Indian edition without the words offensive to Indians. If the books have any words offensive to whites, a white edition could exclude them.

This is a silly solution, but it points to the silliness of the proposed solution. One silly solution deserves another.

Slurs out but racism remains

The real problem isn't that Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are great books except for the ethnic slurs. Rather, they're steeped in the racism of the era. If the publisher really wanted to address this problem, it would rewrite all the racist passages. Eliminate Jim's phony dialect and superstitious ignorance and Injun Joe's murderous savagery, among other things.

This is why critics have said replacing the slurs is a slippery slope. Where do you stop if you're really trying to protect the children? Why is it wrong to expose them to racist words but not to racist ideas?

Schools have a few ways to deal with Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. The options include 1) teach kids to deal with the ugly truths in them, or 2) don't teach them until kids are mature enough to handle them. Either option seems better than using sanitized books.

For more on the subject, see Mark Twain, Indian Hater and Is Huck Finn Racist?

New Tom Sawyer eliminates "Injun" too

When people were talking about censoring Huckleberry Finn last week, I didn't realize they were planning to do the same to Tom Sawyer:

Upcoming NewSouth 'Huck Finn' Eliminates the 'N' Word

By Marc SchultzRather than see Twain's most important work succumb to that fate, Twain scholar Alan Gribben and NewSouth Books plan to release a version of Huckleberry Finn, in a single volume with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, that does away with the "n" word (as well as the "in" word, "Injun") by replacing it with the word "slave."

"This is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind," said Gribben, speaking from his office at Auburn University at Montgomery, where he's spent most of the past 20 years heading the English department. "Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century."Educator Debbie Reese examines the problems in Tom Sawyer:

An American Indian perspective on changing "Injun" to "Indian" in TOM SAWYERSummary: The first Indian that Twain introduces readers to is an unnamed figure in Tom's imagination. This takes place in chapter eight on page 74. Tom has been rebuffed by the girl he's sweet on (Becky) and runs off to the woods. There, Tom thinks about running away to "join the Indians" where he'll "hunt buffaloes and go on the warpath in the mountain ranges and the trackless great plains of the Far West." When he returns, he'll be with "a great Indian chief, bristling with feathers, hideous with paint." He'll go into Sunday-school "with a blood-curdling war-whoop."

Deb's comments: Tom's image reflects America's love/hate attitude towards American Indians. On one hand, we're admired and on the other, we're feared. Or--I should say--IMAGES of us are admired and feared. Tom wants to join Indians who (he imagines) are living the good life out west, hunting buffaloes. He is drawn to the warlike image, too, as he images going on the warpath with the Indians of his imagination. Tom dwells more on the aggressive warlike image of Indians in feathers and paint who utter sounds that terrorize courageous Christians and settlers.In the next chapter, Injun Joe is helping a doctor and his assistant dig up a body in a graveyard. Injun Joe tells the doctor he has a score to settle because: "The Injun blood ain't in me for nothing." The "half-breed" Indian circles the doctor--"creeping, catlike and stooping"--before stabbing him.Deb's comments: As developed by Twain, "Injun Joe" is a vengeful, lying murderer who moves like a cat. In framing "Injun Joe" as animal-like, Twain is not alone. Authors then and now do it. A recent example is seen in James Crowley's Blackfeet characters who gnaw on bones.

And, he's a half-breed whose Indian blood/identity is the reason he's a vengeful, lying murderer.(Excerpted from Debbie Reese's American Indians in Children's Literature, 1/10/11.)

Comment:  Reese goes through the whole book analyzing it in the same vein. She concludes that changing "Injun" to "Indian" and "half-breed" to "half-blood" won't make much difference. Injun Joe is still a one-dimensional savage killer regardless of the words used. The book doesn't belong in any curriculum except to study racism in literature.

For more on the subject, see New Huck Finn Eliminates "Injun" and Is Huck Finn Racist?

Cooke defends offensive "half-blood"

As usual, Michael Cooke defends racism and stereotyping--in this case, the offensively named Camp Half-Blood:The context for "half blood" is that of a work of fiction in this instance. Greek Gods aren't human and therefore can't really be considered "white" if you're thinking literally.

The book has already been made into a movie. But it didn't occur to you to protest that?

The thought that "half blood" is an epithet and therefore wrong may have merit, but I'm personally unfamiliar with it being used as an epithet in a modern context. And even you allowed the movie, big budget movie, to use that term without comment.

What is being accomplished is a redefining 'half blood' to suggest a fantasy idea rather than a racist one. Granted Greek Gods are usually depicted as white--but using African mythologies is less safe because those Gods ARE WORSHIPPED SERIOUSLY TODAY, unlike Greek Gods.

The bottom line is you are accusing people using a popular children's book to encourage play and literacy, of a racist agenda. That's not anyone's intent, and the accusation in the face of the good being accomplished is itself offensive.

As if books popular with children should never be used to inspire play and literacy because they might not be politically correct enough. It's people like you that give "politically correct" a bad name.The context for many racist words and images is fiction. So the hell what? In case you haven't learned anything, the media (news and entertainment) is a primary source for our prejudicial beliefs.

But I forget. You're clueless about the theory and practice of racism in America. For instance, you think minstrel shows have something to do with sadism, which shows how ignorant you are.

Since ancient times, writers and artists have depicted the Greek gods as Caucasians. Which isn't surprising since the gods reflect the people they came from. Perhaps you're thinking of the formless Christian God, because the human-style Greek gods certainly can be Caucasian (white).

For more on the subject, see Racial Type of the Ancient Hellenes.

I'd think twice about using African gods that people still worship. I thought twice about using Native gods that people still worship. Again, so what? I'm not suggesting we avoid using Greek gods. I'm suggesting we avoid using the offensive term "half-blood"--especially as a noun with superior/inferior connotations.

Cooke wrong about "half-blood's" source

Camp Half-Blood is based on Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which doesn't have the term "half blood" in the title. There was no reason for me to address the Olympians title, so you fail on that point. Whoops.

Since I'm a writer and you're not, I believe in reading a lot more than you do. I'm challenging the camp's name, not the use of books to spur the imagination. The organization could've handled the "half-blood" issue in several ways. For instance, by having the children play full-blooded gods or by changing the camp's name.

Intent is rarely the issue when you discuss someone's racist behavior, since it usually happens on a subconscious level. I've explained that before and you haven't shown enough wit to grasp the point yet. Read about it in Americans Refuse to Acknowledge Prejudice and educate yourself so I don't have to.

As with offensive stereotypes, you make excuses for a term the dictionary describes as "offensive." Will you ever condemn an insult against minorities, or is it your mission to defend racism and stereotyping? As we've seen in Cooke Defends Medals, Headdresses, Custer Just a Product of His Time?, and Devil's Advocate Defends Saginaw Grant, that's all you seem to do.

Cooke enjoys being ignorant

I love your basic approach. You haven't watched the Dudesons episode, you don't know anything about "half blood," but you're still spouting your opinions. You're like a kindergartner who thinks everything he says is valid because he said it.

Talk about confirmation bias. Not only do you avoid information that challenges your views, you don't even seek it out. You revel in your ignorance. It's the perfect excuse for you to do nothing about racism and stereotyping.

Since you think you know as much as I do, feel free to take the Pew News IQ Quiz. I'm confident you won't do as well as I did. Again, that's because I get my news from multiple sources and check when I don't know something. As far as I can tell, you don't.

For more of Cooke's opinions, see Comic-Con Protest vs. Dudesons Protest and Irish Band Is Just Harmless Fun?

Below:  The Greek god Poseidon and his wife Amphitrite.

Camp Half-Blood

At Camp, Make-Believe Worlds Spring Off Page

By Sharon OttermanThat morning, the boys had been regular Brooklyn elementary school students at a summer camp in Prospect Park. But now each had been revealed to be a half-blood, with one mortal parent and one who was a god of Greek myth.

Children have always sought to act out elements of their favorite books, becoming part of the worlds that the works create. Now, organized role-playing literary camps, like the weeklong Camp Half-Blood in Brooklyn, are sprouting up around the nation.Some dictionary definitions of half blood:half blood also half-blood (hfbld, häf-)
n.

1.a. The relationship existing between persons having only one parent in common.
b. A person existing in such a relationship.
2. Offensive A person of mixed racial descent, especially a person of Native American and white parentage.

3. A half-blooded domestic animal.Half blood2. (half-blood) offens. another term for half-breed.In her Mixed Race America blog, Jennifer parses this term and notes yet another definition:

Why the phrase "half-blood" needs serious interrogation[A]ccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, "half-blood" has at its core the idea that there is both a quantifiable ("half") notion of blood AND a qualifiable (as in hierarchical) idea embedded in the phrase "half-blood":

"half-blooded a., born of different races; spec. of superior blood or race by one parent only."Comment:  Using the Greek gods as a model, the camp promotes sexual promiscuity, single motherhood, and in some cases rape. It does so with a name offensive to Native Americans. Nice.

If it's not clear what's wrong with the "half blood" concept, think of this. Zeus is the Great White Father of American history. He mates with lesser beings: ordinary Greek women in one case and Native women in the other. The resulting children are half noble white gods and half lowly mud people.

Nobody would use the term "half blood" if, say, an English man and a French woman had a child. That pairing would have no inferior "blood." The term "half blood" exists so a society can label people as tainted members of a lesser race.

Kids may think pretending to be superior white demi-gods is "fun." What they're learning is a system of racial classification similar to those in the antebellum South, India, or Nazi Germany. Is that a good idea? No.

For more on the subject, see Teabaggers:  Obama = "Half-Breed" and "Half-Breeds" in The Tin Star.

Below:  "Camp Half-Blood in Prospect Park, which is inspired by a book series based on Greek mythology." (Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times)

Teabaggers: Obama = "half-breed"

Some reports on the teabagger rally for white privilege in Washington DC:

One View From The GroundI expected a small crowd of die-hard wingnuts. I was surprised by the size of the crowd. I was also surprised by the range of people in attendance. Some in the crowd appeared to be low functioning zealots suffering from serious mental illness and/or undisguised racial hatred. However, most of the people who marched by my vantage point appeared to be rather earnest but misled members of the lower middle class who were just regurgitating Fox News memes concerning imagined threats to America. (Death panels, free medical care for illegal immigrants, onerous taxation, insidious socialism, etc.) I purchased a "Don't Tread on Me" flag that I attached to my backpack and then talked to a dozen or so people who were all very excited about the turnout and expressed the belief that they represented the majority of the American public. They sounded pretty much like the target group of Nixon/Phillip's southern strategy. I received the impression that they were living in a Fox bubble and would be shocked if they do not win the day.EntitledI was at the Lawn with all of the red shirted, white, angry Beck loving neo-patriots and there in no way it was a million people or even close. There were small groups huddled around the Glen Beck inspired flags and the usual disaffected white males wandering in groups with the American flag desecrated by being incorporated into clothing. Having been to the exact same location for the Obama Inauguration and other large political events, this was small fry in comparison. However, it was an angry group with a real sense of absolute entitlement. Something not focused on by many. This sense of entitlement that they deserve to be the dominant deciders and that it's being taken away.

I of course wore a Health Care Reform t-shirt and an Obama cap while on my jog. Very interesting mix of people. Mostly what one would expect. Rural, Southern/plain states, white, with a great number of middle-aged white men with either military crew cuts or biker tattoos. There were a very small number of blacks but interestingly absolutely no Hispanics or Asian Americans anywhere at all. I stayed away from the groups of men wandering around in biker jackets with tattoos carrying flags. Interestingly not a lot of American flags but a lot of other flags including the yellow don't tread on me flag. I actually felt relieved by this event even though there were signs that were shocking because I do not think it will have the impact the organizers were hoping for. And my main thought I had as I observed these people was how many of them will forget they were against health care reform ten years from now when it is a part of American life and many have seen lower costs and their family members covered. One could almost imagine what it was like when Medicare was introduced, the civil rights bills, forced busing, etc. And how many of those people are now advocates or accept it to be a positive part of America.Correspondent DMarks sent us an image to check out:

Imagine that, he's a man of the cloth!

But the reason I sent this to you was the use of an anti-Native racial epithet on the sign.

This is a typical definition for the term "half breed":

"An offensive term for an offspring of parents of different races (especially of Caucasian and American Indian ancestry)."

The tea party protest I went to had mostly civilized signs, with a couple of bad ones. The bigger the event, the more likely there are to be bad signs like these. I do not mind signs like this being exposed and ridiculed.Comment:  For more on the teabaggers' underlying racism, see Teabaggers Support Racist Imagery and Teabaggers Misuse Indian Imagery. For more uneducated idiots who think they understand economics, health care, and education, see Morons with Signs.

"Half-breeds" in The Tin Star

The Tin Star is another classic movie from director Anthony Mann, who helped launch a wave of Westerns with revisionist views about Indians. There are no overt Indians in it, but four characters are labeled "half-breeds." Moreover, anti-Indian prejudice is one of the movie's motivating forces.

Check out my review here:

"Half-breeds" in The Tin Star

And check out the movie itself if you get a chance. It's one of the better Westerns I've seen. Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10.

Top Native stereotypes in video games

The Top 7...Native American stereotypes

We look at digital depictions of North America's First Peoples

By Joe McNeillyGames are notoriously bad at delivering rich characters and resonant emotional stories. Game creators lean heavily on generic stereotypes as a sort of narrative shorthand, so they can get on with designing levels and structuring core gameplay. Because games rely so heavily on stereotypes to invoke character, they are particularly illustrative of prevailing cultural attitudes.

If most game characters are bland archetypes, why then does it seem especially mean-spirited to depict Native Americans as feather-wearing, tomahawk-wielding cardboard standees? Check the first two paragraphs: having your culture all but annihilated adds an extra sting to the irreverent depiction of your sacred symbols. Game designers are quick to co-opt tribal trappings without any consideration for the culture behind the image. The result is often as offensive to Native Americans as Piss Christ is to Christians.The top seven stereotypes in video games according to McNeilly:#7:  The Token Indian
#6:  The Hunter
#5:  The Sex Object
#4:  The Warrior
#3:  The Half-Breed
#2:  The Scout
#1:  The ShamanComment:  I'm not that familiar with Native-themed video games, so I'll take McNeilly's word for it. The top 7 stereotypical characters in comic books would be similar: the warrior/savage, the shaman, the chief/elder, the princess/sex object, the military veteran, the half-breed, and the hunter/tracker, in roughly that order.