Racism in Days of '47

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008 12:11 a.m. MDT
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My 9-year-old daughter was invited to ride on a Days of '47 float. She was very excited. She has actually talked for several years about how neat it would be to ride on a float. She rode her bike to the float location to help work on it. She told family and friends about it.

Several days later, my husband received a phone call informing him that after reviewing the list of children that had been asked to be on the float, it had been decided that our daughter's skin color was not appropriate and that the float committee had gone looking for, and found, another child who had the proper skin color, and our child was being removed and replaced with this new child.

Our daughter was devastated and deeply wounded. Our family is in shock and dismayed that a float in the Days of '47 parade celebrates racism in Utah.

Monica Carpentier
Salt Lake City

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Recent comments

It seems that some people of European descent assume that it must...

John Lambert | July 22, 2008 at 4:15 p.m.

Let’s pause and reflect on what wasn’t reported and how this situation...

Concerned | July 21, 2008 at 2:38 p.m.

I have spoken to sources from the Days of 47 parade, and this is...

Jessica | July 21, 2008 at 12:54 p.m.