Joie Kitchen Gadgets 77700 Monkey Banana Tree Stand, Plastic, Multi-Colour,40 x 15 x 15 cm

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The anger over the banana stand initially surprised Calderone, she said, because nobody in the community reached out to her. “I did look inward, and I was like, maybe I am culturally insensitive,” she said. “So I started researching race relations and where do we go from here.”

That is not how some others at the meeting viewed the gift or the fact that it sat in a place of prominence for the entire meeting. At the Sept. 28 meeting, Calderone once again stood at the podium, thankfully without a shopping bag this time. She slammed the anti-banana stand group for never reaching out to her and said they had “no intention of trying to make this into a teachable moment.” Thompson said that he did not think the “over-the-top” gift was racially motivated until after Calderone stressed that it was specifically for Snyder. “Then I started to get very angry,” he said. “I understand bringing a prop and presenting it to get your point across, but then gifting it to a mayor, knowing that the mayor has had allegations of being racially biased?” Calderone insisted that her gift’s monkey theme had no racial implications. Snyder apologized for offending anyone but claimed he wasn’t even aware of the monkey trope, and insisted that he was not racist. Despite the deepening discord, Snyder told The Daily Beast he has no intention of resigning because he does not believe that will solve the problem. He said he hears the community’s anger and wishes he had handled the gift, which he threw away at home after the meeting, differently. Also, he noted, he is allergic to bananas.When Calderone walked up to the podium, she was carrying a teal shopping bag, which she set down before launching into her speech. After she pulled the banana holder out of the bag and presented it to Snyder, she continued her remarks, which included a series of things she wants for Hutto, from the preservation of natural resources to limited government.

Wilcott told The Daily Beast that she and Thompson texted each other, asking, “Did that really just happen?" but did not say anything publicly. Several meeting attendees told The Daily Beast that there was no obvious reaction in the audience.Wilcott told The Daily Beast that she and Thompson texted each other, asking, “Did that really just happen?” but did not say anything publicly. Several meeting attendees told The Daily Beast that there was no obvious reaction in the audience.

When she was done talking, Calderone took the banana holder up to the dais, where it sat in front of the mayor’s face for the rest of the two-hour meeting. Its prolonged presence there has since sparked outraged complaints of racism and calls for the mayor—who is white, like approximately 49 percent of his constituents—to resign. In an interview last week, Snyder “100 percent” denied all the allegations made at trial, said there was “a lot of misunderstanding,” and predicted the truth would come out during the appeal. Jones disagreed—and seems to be well aware of the current race controversy enveloping Snyder.The City Council meeting in Hutto, Texas, had been in session for just a few minutes on Aug. 31 when local resident Nicole Calderone stepped up to the podium, moments after another speaker angrily rebuked Mayor Mike Snyder.