Colusa County has come to the defense of the youths who created the controversial "Waldo Watermelon Seed" caricature for the county's State Fair Exhibit.
The character was removed Wednesday after a local African-American couple said the image evoked negative stereotypes of African Americans.
The exhibit was created by wards at Fout Springs Boys Correctional Facility - "roughly 40 percent Latino and 40 percent African American" - said Senior Deputy County Counsel Margaret (Marge) Kemp-Williams.
The youths "faced the challenge of creating a display to celebrate the strengths of Colusa County's agriculture industry while paying homage to the State Fair's theme, 'The State Fair Goes Hollywood,'" Kemp-Williams said in a statement.
Colusa County's seed producing crops generate $30 million a year, so the young men, under the guidance of teacher Ralph Minto, "decided to create a display honoring the world traveling seed stars of the County: watermelon, cucumber, pumpkin and tomato," Kemp-Williams said.
"The boys were assigned the task of drawing caricatures of the seeds - characteristic of their ages and this era, they drew sharp images worthy of video game or cartoon network debut," Kemp-Williams explained.
Their images were enlarged, drawn on Styrofoam and colored. "Each seed is depicted true to its color in real life," Kemp-Williams said. "Once completed, the Colusa County traveling stars were aptly named 'Diamond Crested Cucumber Seed,' a rapper, 'Patrick Pumpkin Seed,' a rough tough guy, 'Rocky Tomato Seed,' a boxer, and 'Waldo Watermelon Seed,' a happy guy - why? because who can be unhappy when eating watermelon."
"We are saddened that the fine work of these young men is now cast under a cloud of unintended racism," she said. "We ask that you applaud their hard work and know that they were working to honor Colusa County with their artistic depiction of a genre of 'ag' products produced in stellar quantities by the County: seeds."
Veronica Hannon Thrasher, who objected to the caricature along with her husband, said, "I applaud these students' efforts."
"But they probably never had the benefit of a black history class" that showed images depicting African Americans "as a happy black slave eating watermelon," Thrasher said. "If the students were presented with that history they might have drawn Waldo Watermelon Seed a little differently."
Call The Bee's Stephen Magagnini, (916) 321-1072.
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