A Halloween display in front of a law firm was taken down in Nyack because the jack-o'-lanterns upset some community members. The jack-o'-lanterns are painted black with a white mouth.
The reaction from some community members led the Feerick, Nugent, MacCartney Law Offices to take the pumpkins down less than 48 hours after setting them out on the porch.
"We understand that someone complained about them and so once we got word of that we immediately took them down," says Mary Marzolla, a partner at the law firm.
Marzolla says the pumpkins, personalized with the names of each partner at the firm on South Broadway, were never meant to offend anyone.
"We represent people of all colors and faiths, and we would never do anything to exclude anyone from any community," she says.
Her associate, Alak Shah, says he didn't think twice about the jack-o'-lanterns.
Comment: No sane person would think twice about such a thing. They're pumpkins!
It's just nothing I take offense to personally, but since it did offend someone we took proactive steps to take it down," he says.
Local NAACP Director Wilbur Aldridge says it shows an "extreme lack of sensitivity."
Comment: No, it doesn't show 'an extreme lack of sensitivity'. It shows people just celebrating a holiday. No racism was involved. It was purely manufactured.
Though they have been removed, both attorneys say they wonder why the decorations didn't raise flags at Bed Bath & Beyond, the store where they were purchased.
Bed Bath & Beyond apologized, saying that any offense was unintentional and that it "immediately removed" the pumpkins from sale.
The store says it took action after News 12 reached out but would not say if it had received any other complaints.
Reader Comments
That event was so embedded into the racial memory of humanity that is has been celebrated for millennia, it is so far back that the horrors, are lost to memory.
I believe that in parts of South America, it is celebrated as a "Day of the Dead". I suppose because the myths and legends have survived among the people. .
Nowadays, in the Western world, it is considered one of the best days of the year for commercial enterprises and candy makers.
Where adults can live out some Disneyland extravaganza
And young people can become sugar gluttons, and we wonder why the intellectual abilities of young people in the West are on the decline
My thoughts. .
They obviously want to hide the real meaning / history of All Saints / All Hallows day
Same trick as the christian church used to occlude pagan festivals
How long before The NAACP try and ban storefront displays of watermelons and bananas?
A friend of mine who got married to a Chinese chick told me the other day...
" Yeah, I'm getting a cat tomorrow. Should be all right, providing my wife doesn't eat it."
No one was harmed during the making of this joke.