I'm the biggest fan of Quote of the Week in the Courier.

The purpose of QOTW is to highlight newsworthy quotes.

Because my warped sense of humor, QOTW serves as the comic section for me.

Daily, I seek out quotes that would leave readers like myself laughing for hours, even days. Of course, these quotes never make the cut, so this column will feature a few quotes that were never highlighted.

"I've never seen a white man run that fast." Alleyne Francique, a Grenadian 400-meter Olympiad.

This quote reminds me of a billboard in the Cedar Valley that attempts to stamp out prejudice.

The dominating/background color is black. In white letters, the message reads: "He Is An Articulate Black Man." The word "Black" has a red line drawn through it. It is implied the word black is not necessary in the statement.

I guess the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and the ad council have not reached Grenada. And some things are better left unsaid.

"KBBG is kindness, boldness, blackness and genius. Parading down the ghetto shows our love for the community," says George Dixon.

According to this quote, it's obvious the term ghetto has multiple meanings. A ghetto can be understood to be an impoverished, neglected or otherwise disadvantaged residential area of a city, usually troubled by a disproportionately large amount of crime relating to (inner) city life.

Most residents that live on East Fourth and Sumner streets - the parade route - would disagree with this statement. The new definition of "ghetto" is any person, place or thing that feeds off itself for survival. The negative stigma placed on their community is believed to have derived from crimes committed on the south side of the railroad tracks - the side the parade does not march down.

" … Is Governor Vilsack's preschool agenda going to make Rep. Deborah Berry proclaim him as Iowa's first black governor? …" by Craig Cornelius in a letter to the editor.

Is he for real?

State legislators do not have the power to proclaim or change a person's race or skin complexion. Hypothetically speaking, if Gov. Tom Vilsack supported an issue of a white, State Representative - would that Representative be accused of proclaiming Vilsack as Iowa's 40th white governor?

Sounds strange, doesn't it? I thought so.

Then there were the infamous quotes by Leon Mosley, one of Black Hawk County's Board of Supervisors.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's Abraham Lincoln (speaking of President George W. Bush). Abraham Lincoln freed the blacks, and he's freeing the Iraqis and Afghan people."

I made it a point to seek clarification from Mosley.

We disagreed.

He supports his quote to credit Lincoln with freeing the slaves; however, he does acknowledge that Lincoln only did so to regain control of the Union.

I exhaled in relief.

There was a time when all students were taught Lincoln was the "Great Emancipator" who freed the slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation, they also learned, was a critical important step in achieving that goal.

But I reminded Mosley that I was from the Land of Lincoln - the state of Illinois- and my senior year of high school we learned to believe Lincoln was not motivated by a commitment to end slavery.

The proof is in his famous letter to Horace Greeley in which he quotes " … my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. And if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."

Once my contemporary American history senior class was made aware of this quote, from a president we had been taught to love and respect, we learned to question other significant events in our history.

I'm sure the purpose of the QOTW is to highlight positive, profound thoughts, articulated from prominent people in the community. But more times than not, I am amused at what leaks from the mouths of community members, including myself.

Cherie Nelson is a graphic artist /columnist for the Courier. She can be contacted at 319-291-1587 or cherie.nelson@wcfcourier.com.