It is a pity that the mayor of Frederick didn't have the historical reference or racial sensitivity to know that Halloween human dummies hanging from trees would be offensive to black and white people old enough to have lived through the Jim Crow period of lynching in the U.S. Then, perhaps he would have had the effigies taken down as soon as he started getting complaints, instead of talking about whether or not they scare young people.Mayor Jeff Holtzinger said that to him they didn't suggest lynched bodies. But it's really not about what he thinks in this case. If he were racially sensitive, he would be concerned about how older black people felt about the Halloween effigies. He criticized Guy Djoken, the president of the local NAACP, for trying to make Frederick look racist. But if Holtzinger were really concerned about Frederick 's image on race issues, and if he were smart, he would have had those Halloween dummies taken down when he first started getting complaints from the community and before The Frederick News-Post's photographers and writers got on the beat. This is another case of shooting the messenger. Instead of responding in kind to Djoken's gracious response -- "I'd like to commend him for making that decision" -- to the mayor's taking down the dummies, Holtzinger stuck his big, racially insensitive foot in his mouth, saying: "I hope we don't get complaints from the zombie association." Is Holtzinger comparing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to the "zombie association"? He owes Djoken, the NAACP and the entire Frederick community an apology for that racially insensitive slur. He should do it now! Be a mayor! Be a man! HOMER YOST Frederick
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