Black Watermelons and Kosher Giraffes

I heard something about a rare black watermelon being sold in Tokyo for about $6,000, so I had to do a bit of research, right?

From CNN:

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) — There’s nothing better than a sweet, juicy watermelon on a hot summer’s day, right?
But what if you had to pay six grand for it?
A marine products dealer in Japan plunked down a record $6,125 (650,000 yen) Friday for a black Densuke watermelon — grown only on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Premium melons regularly go for eye-popping amounts there. Only three years ago, someone shelled out about $3,000 for one.

But man, doing a google image search for “black watermelon” turned up some embarrassing results. I never quite got the racist connotations of black Americans and watermelon. I mean, I just don’t get it. I am a Jew, and I love the hell out of watermelon. Can someone explain that one to me?

(side note: It also turns out, that I am now allowed to eat giraffes, as they are considered kosher. I will probably eat 1,000 black watermelons before I ever eat giraffe.)

The race relations connotations in this post might seem staggering – i.e. Jews, blacks, watermelons, giraffes – but it all comes together when you consider the Lemba. Think about it.