Gnomes United (GnoUn), a political party catering to the needs of gnomes, released a statement yesterday at the “Meetup for GnoUn” decrying the GNOME foundation’s use of racist imagery.

“We would like to remind the GNOME foundation that Gnomes do not, in fact, have huge feet”, said Wolfin Yuminstall, party representative. “Those are Hobbits, not Gnomes.”

Other party members, however, were not as tactful, as shouts were heard in the crowd.

“What, they think we all look alike?”

“At least the other desktop actually is kiddy-friendly!”

Instead of a foot, GnoUn recommended other possible symbols for the GNOME project, including:

• a pointy hat
• boots of speed +1
• an open toolbox

Miguel de Icaza, one of the founding members of the GNOME project, denied any racist intentions at the meetup yesterday.

“It’s not racist. We picked the icons out of a hat,” said de Icaza to a booing crowd. “I have plenty of Gnome friends!” showing a picture album of colleagues, all of whom were sporting Unix beards.

Wolfin, however, criticized the reply, saying that “It is most unfortunate that he confused those for Gnomes. They are clearly dwarves.”