The Racist Puppet from Solstice Parade Seen Holding Black Lives Matters Sign on Fremont Ave

Ryan

The puppet first appeared last Saturday, June 17, at the Solstice Parade. It looked like a mammy wearing a Rasta hat. It upset many people at the parade and on social media . Though the organizers confronted it and asked it to leave, the puppeteer, according to several reports, defiantly stayed in the parade.

On Thursday, June 22, the parade's organizers, Fremont Arts Council (FAC), officially apologized for "the racist imagery on display at [the] past weekend’s Fremont Solstice Parade," and said it was working on ways to prevent such imagery from participating in future events.

Today, we received an email from a man, Ryan, who this morning found the puppet dumped next to "the Fremont Parade storage space" on Fremont Avenue. (I wrote an email to the Fremont Arts Council to verify that the puppet was indeed in this location but have not heard back from them at this time.) As if the insult of participating in the parade wasn't enough, it's pictured holding a Black Lives Matter sign. As such, it has the appearance of mocking the movement at a time the city is dealing with the death of Charleena Lyles, a black woman killed by police officers last Sunday.

If the puppet is still there, and still holding this sign, it shows a lack of seriousness about such matters in this neighborhood.

Thanks goes to Ryan for the tip.