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University of Florida bans popular “Gator Bait” chant due to racist connotations

Cruxist

Cruxist

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,814

June - Another step toward positive change against racism - Statements - University of Florida

statements.ufl.edu statements.ufl.edu
  • While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our "Gator Bait" cheer at UF sporting events, there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase. Accordingly University Athletics and the Gator Band will discontinue the use of the cheer.
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The imagery he's referring to can be seen here:

theundefeated.com

The gut-wrenching history of black babies and alligators

Last week, 2-year-old Lane Graves was attacked and killed by an alligator in central Florida. We should all mourn the death of this innocent child. And empathiz…
theundefeated.com theundefeated.com

Snopes also has an article on the topic:

www.snopes.com

Were Black Children Used as Alligator Bait in the American South?

Tales of youngsters chained up as "alligator bait" in the deep South of the 18th and early 19th centuries bespeak the United States' racist past.
www.snopes.com www.snopes.com

But they do conclude the article by saying

Regardless, it is true that the notion that dark-skinned children were the favorite food of alligators and crocodiles, like so many other demeaning stereotypes about people of African descent, was already commonplace in the antebellum United States ("…they prefer the flesh of a negro to any other delicacy," Fraser's Magazinereported as a scientific fact in 1850). It's therefore plausible to suppose that the epithet "alligator bait" did not follow from, but rather preceded the existence of stories depicting black children as such, which would relegate those stories to mere folklore.
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GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye 007

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Oct 25, 2017
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Oh man, was just considering making a thread about this. But also including the fact that UF currently uses prison labor to work agricultural fields. In Florida, inmates are paid up to $0.55 per hour as of 2017 prior to any mandatory deductions for work. I don't know if UF paid any more on the top. It's actually in the same link you posted.

Go Gata
 
Heynongman!

Heynongman!

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Oct 25, 2017
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I've never ever heard this cheer, but wow never knew the history behind gator bait either. Christ that's horrifying.
 
OP
OP
Cruxist

Cruxist

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Oct 27, 2017
3,814
GoldenEye 007 said:
Oh man, was just considering making a thread about this. But also including the fact that UF currently uses prison labor to work agricultural fields. In Florida, inmates are paid up to $0.55 per hour as of 2017 prior to any mandatory deductions for work. I don't know if UF paid any more on the top. It's actually in the same link you posted.

Go Gata
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Yeah, this is part of a series of things they're doing but the one that's obviously getting attention since it's sports related and something fans are attached to. As a UF alum and gator fan, this is also what came across my radar first.
 
Fisty

Fisty

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Oct 25, 2017
20,214
Holy shit, I've done that chant. Had no clue... wtf is wrong with people, why was this even a thing
 
Volimar

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Oct 25, 2017
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Jesus Christ! Just when I think I know the depths of racist depravity...
 
Nepenthe

Nepenthe

When the music hits, you feel no pain.
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Oct 25, 2017
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Learned about the feeding of our children to gators a few years ago, but I'm not tuned in enough to college sports to know they had a chant about it.

It doesn't surprise me.
 
SonicDaHedgehog

SonicDaHedgehog

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Aug 2, 2018
269
If they acknowledge it has nothing to do with and is in no way related to the cheer then I don't understand why it needs to be banned? The historical story is terrible and horrifying but by that extension wouldn't you need to get rid of the Gator mascot all together and the "chomp"?
 
Valkyr Junkie

Valkyr Junkie

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Oct 27, 2017
853
I had no idea of the "history" associated with the phrase, and I went to UF.

Did they do this just to force FSU's hand? lol
 
Lkr

Lkr

Member
Oct 28, 2017
9,512
I hate UF, know the chant, but never this connotation...
I'm not gonna die on this hill but seems weird to deny it has anything to do with this but then get rid of the chant anyway.
 
Starmud

Starmud

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,443
some of the accounted stories that have been collected out there about feeding slave children/babies to hogs and alligators as feed/bait, much less finding out there were products on marketplace shelves that made joke of it in branding/name, pure evil
 
Zackat

Zackat

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Oct 25, 2017
3,021
I didn't know about the history of this, as I haven't for a lot of things. As an alum I am glad they are taking this step. Looking forward to more changes.
 
Dali

Dali

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Oct 27, 2017
6,184
I never understood the slogan. Calling your opponent "Gator bait" when you're the Gators means it doesn't end well for you either. You're calling yourself suckers that are falling for a trap.
 
CaptainBojangles

CaptainBojangles

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Oct 25, 2017
3,689
UF has enough chants and generally dumb stadium gimmicks that nothing of value would be lost by just using all not using this one
 
CaptainBojangles

CaptainBojangles

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Oct 25, 2017
3,689
SonicDaHedgehog said:
If they acknowledge it has nothing to do with and is in no way related to the cheer then I don't understand why it needs to be banned? The historical story is terrible and horrifying but by that extension wouldn't you need to get rid of the Gator mascot all together and the "chomp"?
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I mean there is a clear difference between a mascot being an animal found prevalently on campus and in the state vs. A phrase with racist history
 

docannon

Member
Oct 28, 2017
285
We are the boys from old Florida always appeared more suspect to me. Real confederate vibes from that one...
 
Prototype Viktor

Prototype Viktor

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Beren

Beren

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Oct 25, 2017
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Prototype Viktor said:
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Yeah my aunt told me about this. Apparently back when she was super young (50s and early 60s) absolutely EVERYONE called those candies that, and she said she didn't realize what the phrase meant until she offered one to a black girl. According to her when the thought dawned she was horrified and embarrassed and apologized to the girl, and never used the phrase afterwards. She said because every single person she knew (and they were definitely all white people) used the phrase, she never actually thought about it and kept perpetuating the horrible saying. Even though she shared this story with me a year or two ago, she said she was still embarrassed and horrified by it and the other overt racism she saw back then.

So when that image says decades, it means that phrase was popular lexicon until the mid 60s. It's very recent.
 

Deleted member 4367

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Oct 25, 2017
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Keywork said:
I've seen a lot of people say the FSU stuff is ok because the Seminole Nation gave them the ok years ago and how they use an actual Seminole as the mascot.
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Chief Osceola is almost always a white guy in red face.

Seminole Nation of Florida is in support of FSUs usage of the tribe as a mascot (though officially it's not a mascot) but the Seminole tribe of Oklahoma absolutely hates FSU.
 
Slappy White

Slappy White

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Oct 27, 2017
3,205
Wow I had heard this term before but never considered it to be more than a stupid sports slogan for them. That's some pretty horrifying history as to its origins. Now get rid of the tomahawk chop.
 
TheLetdown

TheLetdown

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Oct 25, 2017
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Zackat said:
I didn't know about the history of this, as I haven't for a lot of things. As an alum I am glad they are taking this step. Looking forward to more changes.
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Same here. I've never heard of the racial connotation with "alligator bait" but I appreciate the proactive approach.

In general, the statement by Fuchs was an all-around positive.
 
UF_C

UF_C

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Oct 25, 2017
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It's curious. As a Florida alum I'm fine with the change. But my friends who didn't go to Florida are outraged and believe it's an overreach.

it's a stupid chant. It has no significant impact on anything. Why are people outraged?
 
Tapiozona

Tapiozona

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Oct 28, 2017
2,253
Prototype Viktor said:
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This is so unbelievably fucking nuts that I ended up reading more about it. The Alligator bait definitely happened and it happened well after slavery ended, 1923 being the last documented time I could find. They would put ads in the paper and pay a couple bucks and return the baby afterwards like it was no big deal. Aligator bait was a pretty common slur, not just used by regular racists, but even the media and society in general, used in the early 1900's..

Examples are found in a 1908 Los Angeles Herald boxing match recap ("Bell Shows Yellow"); in a 1905 issue of the Richmond, Virginia Times Dispatch where two African American males are referred to as "alligator bait" for stealing a chunk of lead ("News Gathered"); and in an article from the 1898 Richmond Dispatch where the term "alligator bait" is used to describe the size of a "dusky bootblack" ("Bootblack's Little Deal").

In a review of popular toys in 1917, the New York Times reported that "In View of the improved call for stuffed boy and girl negro dolls, the 'alligator bait' is expected to have a big run" ("Outlook for Toys").


There isn't a lot of information but N Babies was actually a name for candy but it wasn't licorice. It was chocolate and they came in the form of small children, and the racist south quickly adopted N Babies..people called them this for a LONG time too..like 50 years. The name was changed to Chocolate Babies in the 60's...
7239a19e0ea10053710d617205f5c6ff.jpg


Nibs, the product we know get their name from their bite size for 'nibbling' and the candy/food industry uses nib to describe small pieces of a product and was introduced in the early 70's. "Nib" name originated from Cocoa nibs which are cocoa beans snacks.

The image is probably referencing this product (no date) since it also reads "A Dainty Little Morsel" and is black licorice but of no relation to the company that makes twizzlers (or it's previous name Y&S).
original-little-african-licorice_1_a1cc1904f7e87ba455a110ba0cbf0504.jpg


There's actually a fair amount of crazy racism in candy I had no idea about with the N word being the common theme for lots of chocolate and licorice candy. Honestly, I'm sure if we looked at EVERY industry back then we'd find the same shit.

I hope this isn't coming across as me defending any of this. I just had to look into that image because it was so absurdly horrifying and had to see if I should never eat a Twizzler product again.
 
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