system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:The whole black person watermelon thing.

Watermelon is straight up delicious. Everyone of varying colors loves that shit, so why is it a racial stereotype thing? Does anyone actually know?
gpt
Well we're still feeling the ripple effect from old racism and slavery. Watermelon originally came from South Africa and spread through most of Africa in ancient times. It was the moors who brought watermelon to Europe and early American settlers who brought it here to the USA. When slavery was at its peak, watermelon's popularity in the states also rose dramatically because African slaves would be inclined to have food from their native homeland (them and their ancestors ate watermelon pretty regularly). Proponents of slavery would use the watermelon as an iconic symbol to push their agenda, "all you need to keep a slave happy is a watermelon, so obviously they are subhuman since us white folks need more than just watermelon to be happy."  After slavery ended here in the us, there were still plenty of racial overtones that continued on with the watermelon.  You are right that it is complete bullshit, one study showed the African Americans only account for 11 percent of watermelon consumed in the us.