UPDATE 4:50 pm: Another reader, and Cedar Grove resident, wrote in saying, “The monkey appeared a few weeks ago, and last week it had on a different shirt and was holding NY Mets fan gear.” According to ChamberofCommerce.com, the owner is listed as Rick Bond.
Most people use lawn signs or bumper stickers to show support of a presidential candidate, but one local business has decided to show its disdain for the President of the United States with a large stuffed monkey statue wearing a T-shirt that says, “OMG Obama Must Go.”
Baristanet was tipped off to display from a reader who messaged us, “There’s a large anti-obama doll monkey at Don-Ric Self Storage Plus on Little Falls rd in Cedar Grove. Racist and out of line.”
A trip over to Don-Ric’s Self Storage at 1 pm confirmed it, as shown in the photo above. Ten minutes after taking the photo, I called Don-Ric’s Self Storage to question them about the display. I explained I was calling from Baristanet, a local online news site and explained that someone told us about the Anti-Obama monkey on the businesses’ front lawn. The man who answered responded, “Uh, I don’t think that it’s there anymore.” I asked when it was removed and he responded, “I have no idea.” When I asked who removed it, he responded, “I have no idea.” When I then asked who put it there to begin with, he again responded, “I have no idea.” He refused to give me his name, but just kept saying he “was just someone who works here.”
After pressing him further, he hung up on me.
Just a few minutes ago, a tipster confirms that it was taken down.
It’s probably never a good idea for a business owner to publicly announce their political/social stances, but to do so in a racist manner can only serve to quicken the death of the business.
Disgusting.
Uh oh. Not long before this story goes national. You’ll see the apology right after that. Then, hopefully, a Baristanet follow up in a few months about the new business opening up in the space.
Obama? NBC had me thinking it was Gabby Douglass…..
Stupidity is everywhere. If you look hard enough. But some folks– here, and NBC, make it way to easy.
With that though, I hope we don’t see every non-intentional event (which this CERTAINLY IS NOT) as “racist” during this election season.
Because if Obama can select Biden after his “Clean and Articulate” comment, we should all be able to take a deep breath and reconsider.
Oh, and State Street Pete, that new business will probably be a yogurt shop.
“Because if Obama can select Biden after his “Clean and Articulate” comment, we should all be able to take a deep breath and reconsider.”
—what a crock. When in doubt, run to the false equivalencies.
Biden’s comment does NOT “equal” what you see here—or the rest of the invective we see from the Troglodyte Class. i find it offensive for you to suggest so…
With the doll now down, this item has lost all relevance. (Maybe not here given the virtual lynch mobs which regularly assemble here over so many issues, but probabloy everywhere else.) Thank goodness.
But the good prof, jcunningham, was both witty and spot on. That you (you! and oh the places you’ll go with this one in your head!) found his comment offensive does not make it so. But then, I find your reference to the “Troglodyte Class” (and would you care to further identify its denizens? are they possibly, gasp, Republican voices?) offensive as well as wimpishly opaque.
The fact that some bigots consider blacks to be sub-human crossed my mind when I saw this ( what’s that expression – porch monkey?) and they might have found Don-Ric’s display a perfect reflection of their world view, and maybe even funny !
Hell, these days, some racists even consider Sikhs to be non-white, so they shoot them.
I never underestimate people’s stupidity. First they elect Obama and now this guy. I must be the only normal one out there.
If you don’t think the person who put this up didn’t realize the racist implications, you don’t know Cedar Grove.
A monkey doll with an Obama shirt on displayed on a lawn not racist?
What is this, new newspeak?
Ahh Cedar Grove – home to a small group of “skins heads” too frightened to actually shave their heads. If they are reading this – yeah I still remember you idiots – 5 of you couldn’t beat me and you all cash paychecks with big ole jewish names like mine on them. “Master race” lol not even 15th runner up who gets trophy for showing up.
NJ.com picked it up.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/165319376_Figure_of_monkey_wearing_anti-Obama_T-shirt_removed_from_Cedar_Grove_business.html
Maybe Mike Huckabee can organize a Don-Ric Storage appreciation day.
Can’t even comment…
An ahole AND a coward. Not even man (or woman) enough to own up to his/her stupidity.
This makes me sick to my stomach. Whether like the Pres or not, it’s just disgusting. You want to express your displeasure? Make a sign instead!
ps. HRH, thanks for that tip about Cedar Grove. In the past, it has been on my list of Places to Move Once the Kids Graduate… huh. It’s off the list now!
“that you found his comment offensive does not make it so.”
“But then, I find your reference to the “Troglodyte Class”… offensive as well as wimpishly opaque.”
—so, wait—you can be offended but not I?? Typically muddled thinking from you, cathar. at least you are consistent!
Jimmytown should get comment of the week for his Huckabee line!And pass the Chik’n, please.
Ahh …the Republican party rump is on full display again. Gosh darn, you betcha !
Because if Obama can select Biden after his “Clean and Articulate” comment, we should all be able to take a deep breath and reconsider.
prof wins the “bring it back to Obama” award.
With the doll now down, this item has lost all relevance.
cathar, as always, wins the “WE SHOULDN’T TALK ABOUT THIS BECAUSE I SAY SO” award.
Oh, and those negro, black, african-american loving Democrats have NO racist history, huh?
Please. A racist can be a guy with a skin head, a suit, or a dress. From the North, South, East and West. And in some cases, even have Black relatives.
Don’t be so dumb as to think this is a “Cedar Grove” problem.
So do what I do: take everyone as they come, have good cheer (which includes a willingness to argue and listen), and go about your business knowing that most folks are kind; and UNTIL they ACT otherwise, treat them as a friend.
But don’t assume someone is one way based on some dumb superficial think like where they live (unless, of course, it’s a KKK village.)
“Oh, and those negro, black, african-american loving Democrats have NO racist history, huh?”
—um, nobody said that, Prof, so chalk one up to you for inventing an argument.
Hey, I don’t blame you (much) though. For the last four years, the GOP has openly flirted with racists, playing the Birther Card whenever it suits them. And don’t tell me it’s a minority of the Party when the Presidential nominee plays footsie with The Donald. I’d be embarrassed too if I were you…
“With the doll now down, this item has lost all relevance.”
Wow, Cathar! You truly are a pedantic fool.
I guess because the business owner took the doll down all is well and nobody should care that the business owner chose to display this offensive image.
The fact that the business owner took the sign down may even make the item more relevant.
Wait, does Cedar Grove have a present racist population? Like Kay, it’s been on my potential list of more affordable (and lower taxed) places to move, but not if it known for it’s racism.
Why can’t they just stick to pink flamingos?
Cedar Grove is not the Hammerskin Nation, no. Not on my top ten places to live but it’s not more or less racist than any other American town with the same population. This is one bad apple we’re talking about. So fight back and don’t patronize his sorry ass. Tell your friends not to patronize him. Word of mouth travels fast.
I don’t think one bad lawn display makes a whole town racist. All communities have their idiots. Even enlightened Montclair, I’m sure.
“Ahh …the Republican party rump is on full display again. Gosh darn, you betcha !”
Yup because R’s are the only people that think this guy is awful , inept and in way over his head. Coming from a Dem, historically the most racist party in the history of this country you have a set pal.
Just tell your boy to put up and release his tax returns …..
as soon as Obama releases his transcripts
Oh, and as far as the Dem party being racist … those losers left and became the forerunners of today’s Republican base when LBJ signed a certian piece of noble legislation back in ’64. You probably weren’t even born yet, so I’ll give you a pass.
“..as soon as Obama releases his transcripts”
That’s the best you got ? Go back to the Dick Morris playbook.
johnqp:
I thought it matched
“Just tell your boy to put up and release his tax returns …..”
cathar – “With the doll now down, this item has lost all relevance.”
It is you, not the item that has lost all relevance. You have a remarkable facility for insouciance on relevant issues while advocating the most trivial in an effort toward self-aggrandizement on matters unimportant to anyone other than yourself.
Pathetic and classically narcissistic.
LOL, Bottom line is this President has been a failure and has no record to run on. He points fingers at Republicans but he had a Dem House and Senate and got everything he wanted passed. Problem is they’ve failed. His own party won’t pass his budget. How embarrassing is it that his budget was defeated 414-0 in House and 99-0 in the Senate? His own party barely supports him these days except the shameless reckless liars Reid and Pelosi.
His promise to end the recession and that unemployment would be at 5.6% if his stimulus package passed……WRONG. Unemployment has been above 8% for what 44 months? Never in this country has unemployment been above 8% for that long and that number doesn’t even include those that no longer are eligible for benefits and have left the workforce. They’ve been out of work so long they no longer can get benefits and aren’t even calculated anymore in unemployment data.There are 780,000 more women unemployed today than when Obama took office and increase of 15.5% under him !! Huge Failure
‘I’ll run the most transparent administration ever’. Yup like putting the healthcare hearings on CSPAN as he promised so everyone can see (lied) Concealing Fast and Furious records by claiming executive privilege…His own party has been critical press leaks of vital sensitive information under his watch. The list is too lengthy. Why doesn’t he just show his school records? He got into Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law, what does “Barry Soetoro” have to hide? …he’s failed in transparency.
“I’ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills”…….broken
Banning lobbyist…I just love the Caribou emails and his Chief of Staff Jim Messina discussing the language for Obamacare with Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America lobbyist firm….This subject is a huge broken promise.
“End Bush tax cuts”….broken
Cap and Trade…..broken
He was naive enough to promise to make peace with Iran. hahaha.
Competitive bidding for projects over 25K….broken. Of course he broke this one. How else would he be able to funnel the billions of “green energy dollars” to his supporters and donors. hahaha.
End income taxes for seniors making under 50K….broken
Increase capital gains and dividends for high end earners (he had the chance). …broken
I will go over the budget ‘line by line’ to weed out waste and corruption. Really? Just look at the mockery that has taken place under his watch, the GSA. Too many others to list.
Foreign policy? After his apology tour, Russia mocks us and he turned his back on our 2 biggest friends Britain and Israel. He was caught on tape insulting Netanyahu . But hey he gave the Queen an ipod full of his speeches. A real Statesman. Too much to get into. Ok, let’s hear “he got Bin Laden” comments. This country is global joke because of him.
Grossly underestimated the Arab Spring. He hailed and supported the overthrow of friendly regimes that have been replaced by the United States , women hating Muslim Brotherhood. A human rights victory? Really? The videos of women being stoned or executed for allegedly flirting are quite disturbing. How long would many of Baristavilles citizen’s last there?
Oh well……
Another 44 soldiers were killed in July, unemployment through the roof, families hurting , business going under but let’s whine about a tax return. Hhaha.
You Obama supporters can still hope but the reality is, he is a huge failure despite having both houses for two years. His strategy of finger pointing , class envy and divisiveness is failing. He will get rolled in November.
herb, I’ll be headed to the beach for a week so I’ll probably have a few days to read your post.
Brevity, my friend, is the soul of wit.
Even if Obama is the flop you believe he is, herb ( and you will find half the country agrees with you, and half the country disagrees with you) , I will assume ( perhaps foolishly ) that you also believe that racism has no place in modern politics.
Spiro,
Of course I do but unfortunately our President doesn’t.
africanamericans.barackobama.com
Let me get this straight, herb. An organization of African Americans supporting President Obama is racist?
How, exactly?
cro, I think it’s kind of like that other organization supporting Mitt Romney.
(europeanamericans.mittromney.com)
Herb, they are busting on South Park and our sacred freedom to stand outside drunk at 1 am on a Saturday night a couple of stories up the page—time for you to focus your laser sharp insights on an issue much dearer to your heat…
Predictably, “discussion” on this item has debased itself into quite a few nasty comments about Republicans and related, well,”stuff.” Well, t’was to be expected given that the offensive doll has been already down longer than it was apparently up over the last few days.
But I would like to remind so many above that historically the Democrats are the party of the Klan, at least in the South, and that such worthies as Senator Heflin, Justice Hugo Black and, as late as post-WWII, Senator Robert Byrd, were either actual Klan members or mouthpieces for that organization’s curious interpretation of “Americanism.” Klan-fanned opposition to the Presidential nomination of Al Smith over his Catholicism also came mostly from within his own party, the Democrats. Leander “Big Daddy” Perez, Orval Faubus and (initially, anyway) George Wallace were also loyal Dems.
This is in no way, however, a very deep discussion of racism and its vagaries in these United States. Instead, like usual, it is the Baristanet faithful ranting to no great or clear purpose. (I was especially baffled by that reference to supposed skinheads in Cedar Grove, who according to the poster cash checks with “Jewish-sounding names” on them – this is the kind of thing Goebbels would have had such fun with, did the poster realize that?) Perhaps because they can’t really do much over something of genuine local import such as an assisted living facility in downtown Montclair.
Again, the doll is down. Unless some frothing poster above is outraged enough to either personally confront the storage center’s proprietors, or even to remove his/her belongings from the place as a sign of genuine financial commitment, that should end this matter. However much the Baristas are probably hoping to keep this one going for a while longer. And the entire matter says absolutely nothing about life in either Cedar Grove or, by way of wishfully virtuous comparison, Montclair.
And have a nice beachside vacation, croiagusanam.
Seems to me that rather than ranting on ad nauseum while espousing misguided platitudes of our current President, what may be more intrinsically relevant is to boycott the business of the racist proprietor. That is, if one disapproves of the action of said bigoted business owner in the first place.
“…He will get rolled in November”
By who ?
By Mitt Romney
Wake me up when it’s time for the debates. In the meantime, enjoy yhe rest of your summer.
umm…”the” rest of your summer. Adios.
Oblame-a at it again. Never his responsibilty. Yup, it’s Montclairs fault.
In an interview with Black Enterprise magazine, President Barack Obama blames state and local governments, as well as Congress, for over 14 percent black unemployment.
“Black unemployment still stands at nearly 14%. How do you communicate that the economy is headed in the right direction?,” the editor in chief of Black Enterprise asks Obama.
“Most economists will tell you that there is no doubt the economy has gotten stronger, but we are digging ourselves out a deep hole. There are a lot more things we could be doing. To get them done, we need cooperation of Congress. We got the payroll tax portion of [my American Jobs Act] done, but what we didn’t get done is the assistance I was proposing to the states to help them hire back teachers, firefighters, and first responders, because one of the weakest parts of this recovery has been state and local government hiring,” Obama responds.
My favorite line……….”“Most economists will tell you that there is no doubt the economy has gotten stronger”
Really the Commerce Department reported second-quarter growth fell to 1.5 percent. I mean whats this guy thinking? 1.5% growth is a sign the economy is getting stronger. bwahahahah.
Actually, herb, your pal Barack is right. As state and local governments cut back, they fire people. Since many private businesses avoid hiring blacks, blacks have been going to work for state and local governments for decades now. This is old news. And, since state and local governments are contracting faster than private sector companies, we see the disproportionate rise of black unemployment.
Sorry can’t read the rest of your posts herb, gotta run, dude.
The doll may indeed be down from its post, but once it was place in the public sphere, just long enough for it to be documented (eyewitness account, photograph), it entered the archive of things that have happened that people get to weigh, measure, discuss, get outraged by.
There is no hourglass for that realm.