I haven't been posting lately, but I received this email about the Lil Monkey doll that is for sale at your local Costco. Sometimes I need to do a reality check to determine if anyone else is offended or am I just trippin'. Monkey, ape, baboon, etc. are derogatory terms used to humiliate people of African Descent and for Costco to be so insensitive makes me very angry. Here is a little black baby, with a monkey, banana and all!I hear that Costco, after being besieged by complaints has began the arduous task of pulling the dolls off the shelves in their Greensboro store, but the dolls are most likely on sale in other location. Even if and when they pull the dolls off from all of the stores the damage has been done. What would possess the powers that be at Costco to think this would be alright?
12 comments:
Please tell me that's a joke. This stuff really has gotten out of hand. It's reached a point where people of color can't even whisper certain words or ask certain questions without being accused of "playing" the race card. But folks want to continue pairing apes with African Americans and "playing" ignorant about it.
The big-wigs who makes the buying decisions for Costco either don't have a clue and need to hurry up and get few or are race-baiting, plain and simple.
Hi Linda, Of course you can refer to someone as oversensitive when you are white and have never been subjected to the horrors and injustices that the person has experienced, either personally or historically. You should walk a mile in someone's shoes before being so dismissive of their feelings. If Costco had released this product as a "white baby" we would not be having this discussion.
Lori, Race-baiting indeed! I just do not think that the purchasers (or whoever is responsible for putting this doll on the shelves) are that stupid.
Neither the powers that be at Brasskey Keepsakes (the manufacturer of the doll) nor Costco were using any brain power in this matter. Even if either party didn't see anything wrong with the doll, they should have known that many would rightly be offended by it.
Linda: As a heads up, there is a white counterpart to the Lil' Monkey Doll. However, the white doll is next to a panda and has a hat on that says "Pretty Panda". Here is a link to a photo:
http://contexts.org/socimages/files/2009/08/Capture5.JPG
After seeing this photo, do you still think the Lil' Monkey doll is inoffensive?
Okay, I apologize. I agree that the buyers for Costco should have been more aware of what they were doing. For the record, I wouldn't have purchased that doll if I'd been a position of doing it.
Malcolm, I couldn't open the picture. Google says there is no page with that address.
Linda: That's odd, because I can still access the photo w/o any problem. Try the following link and scroll down to the 2nd photo:
http://www.antiracistparent.com/2009/08/18/costco-and-the-lil-monkey-doll/
Thanks for the additional info, Malcolm. Pretty Panda vs. Lil Monkey. Wow! Just wow . . .
I've heard people refer to their babies as little monkeys...hell, I've probably did it myself when my son was a baby, not even thinking about the connection.
Seeing this picture makes me recognize the cruelty and insensitivity of such a moniker. It may be cute, but the meaning is different. I agree with Pjazzy, if the doll were a white doll, we wouldn't be having this discussion because there is no history of hate behind calling little White babies monkeys...that is not true of little Black babies.
The whole point is to recognize that this can be/is hurtful...whether it applies to your race or not. That is something that the folks at Costco didn't do, and they are completely wrong for not even considering the implications.
No, you're not being overly sensitive. And I congratulate you for speaking out. I'm a white Southerner who grew up in the Old South. My blog (The Block or click my name when I leave this comment) talks about issues Back Then. Unfortunately, so much that Was still Is -- it's just coded under Freedom of Speech and so on.
Hi Kittie, Thanks for your comments. Finally someone from the South who recognizes what goes on and does not try to sugar coat it! People think they can do and say anything they want no matter how hurtful and damaging, while hiding behind the first amendment. The makers of this doll are either ignorant to the Nth degree or just plan don't give a damn. I am really hoping it is the former and if it is, I would like to send them a dollar so that they can buy a CLUE! I am on my way to check out your blog :-)
Thanks for stopping by my blog and your lovely comment. In all honesty, the South is more polarized than ever before. Too many can't get over the fact that the President of the United States is African-American. And it can get pretty nasty when we whites lock horns (more often than you'd think as there are many of my ilk who won't back down and aren't afraid of them.)
If you check out some of my earlier blogs you'll see that I think Rush Limbaugh is a bigot who caters to a certain mentality. In fact, he'll be in today's blog.
If you go to my blog Someone Stole My Pumpkin you'll find a comment by Skizoleeza. Please click on the comment. You'll find that there are many, many Southerners who don't like what's going on and are using their blogs to help stop this madness.
I tell stories, but, within each story is a message related to today. I hear you, girl, and am keyboarding away.
OMG! I usually try to give the benefit of the doubt and if both baby dolls had come in identical packaging with a monkey doll, I would think it was just stupidity on the part of the manufacturer.
The fact that they come with different animals and different descriptions leads me to think otherwise. Great post, Pjazzy!
Just as a heads up, the black dolls wasn't the only monkey and the white doll wasn't the only panda either. The fact of the matter is that there were THREE races (black, white and Hispanic)for both animals (meaning the black baby was also a panda and the white baby was in fact a monkey as well) but since the entire thing happened oh-so-long ago, the only baby to get the most attention was the black baby in the monkey costume.
I'm not trying to say that people should keep their mouth shut when someone DOES use the term monkey in an insulting manner but people should get all the info before they go on an outcry of things. Many of the sites who have posted this story have not shown the images of all three babies in their animal costumes and continue to act as if the black baby was the only monkey baby in the line which is not true. This story is just proof that you sometimes need more information before you attack someone, especially when you consider that in markets like Costco, they are going to manufacture twos like this in a set of races, and within that they're all going to have the same costume.
Do I think this is racist? No. Its UNFORTUNATE but not racist. I see things much worse than this but it just makes me sad that so much outrage can be subjected to this with such little information on the article as a whole.
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