‘Ghetto Talent Show,’ Watermelon Eating Contest Outrages Community
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Local10.com (Miami), July 26
Miami city leaders are apologizing for a news release that invited summer campers to a “Ghetto Style Talent Show” and “Watermelon Eating Contest.”
The release said that children participating in the summer camp who “know the meaning of ghetto style” would have a chance to “prove just how ghetto they are.”
Members of the black community expressed outrage at the wording of the invitation to the talent show. The show will be part of the grand finale picnic for the city’s summer camp program to be held Friday at Hadley Park.
After being criticized by residents of the nearby Model City neighborhood and community leaders, Miami Parks Director Ernest Burkeen, who is black, released a formal apology and announced the renaming of the talent show.
The show will now be called the “Funky Talent Show,” according to Burkeen’s written statement. The watermelon contest will still be part of the event.
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(Posted on July 27, 2005)