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This summer, in a highly controversial move, Reese's launched a "White Chocolate" Reeses' Peanut Buttercup, finally breaking the candy industry's long silence on white-colored treats, the result of a self-imposed ban that has been in effect since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Many commentators have lamented the loss of white chocolate from America's confectionary landscape. But most civil right activists point to the candy's notorious past as the reason for it's taboo nature, being the preferred treat of notorious racists such as KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, former Alabama governor George Wallace, and even Adolph Hitler. The candy is famous for it's role in the ground-breaking 1917 film, "The Birth of a Nation". In one scene a cavalcade of mounted KKK members are portrayed as heroically stopping a crazed african-american man from raping a young white woman, at the end of the scene we see a KKK member lift his hood and begin chewing on on a stick of white chocolate with the next frame displaying the words "I Don't Eat (N-Word) Candy!"
Needless to say, many civil rights activists have bitterly protested Reeses' re-introduction of this notorious treat, with the NAACP issuing a flat boycott of all Reeses' candies. However, some young people, including many African-Americans, believe that the candy should be taken at face-value as nothing more than a delicious dessert, and all racial implications should be dismissed.
Yet, still other's feel that the total dearth of white chocolate on America's store shelves is the result of cultural paradigm shift from a Euro-Centric culture to an Afro-Centric culture. In an era where America's young people idolize rap stars such as "Snoop Doggy Dogg", and "2Pac Shaker", and where young school children routinely discuss "Hanging out with the Homies ", it is easy to see where such conclusions could be drawn.
Regardless of where the truth lies, with both sides are digging in, it is clear that the battle over white chocolate is not one that will be decieded over night.
Many commentators have lamented the loss of white chocolate from America's confectionary landscape. But most civil right activists point to the candy's notorious past as the reason for it's taboo nature, being the preferred treat of notorious racists such as KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest, former Alabama governor George Wallace, and even Adolph Hitler. The candy is famous for it's role in the ground-breaking 1917 film, "The Birth of a Nation". In one scene a cavalcade of mounted KKK members are portrayed as heroically stopping a crazed african-american man from raping a young white woman, at the end of the scene we see a KKK member lift his hood and begin chewing on on a stick of white chocolate with the next frame displaying the words "I Don't Eat (N-Word) Candy!"
Needless to say, many civil rights activists have bitterly protested Reeses' re-introduction of this notorious treat, with the NAACP issuing a flat boycott of all Reeses' candies. However, some young people, including many African-Americans, believe that the candy should be taken at face-value as nothing more than a delicious dessert, and all racial implications should be dismissed.
Yet, still other's feel that the total dearth of white chocolate on America's store shelves is the result of cultural paradigm shift from a Euro-Centric culture to an Afro-Centric culture. In an era where America's young people idolize rap stars such as "Snoop Doggy Dogg", and "2Pac Shaker", and where young school children routinely discuss "Hanging out with the Homies ", it is easy to see where such conclusions could be drawn.
Regardless of where the truth lies, with both sides are digging in, it is clear that the battle over white chocolate is not one that will be decieded over night.
ACK!
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