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Apparently, Costco was selling dolls. One was White and came with a stuffed panda bear. The white doll wore a hat that read “Pretty Panda”.
Anyone want to take a guess at what the Black doll came with?
Yes, the Black doll came with a monkey and wore a hat that read “Little Monkey”.
I’ll go into that incident, as well as the monkey dilemma, in another post (one I’ve been writing in my head for about a week now). What I’m writing about now, is the Anti-Racist Parent post about the incident. Specifically, these sentences:
Whiteness is purposeful and each day it acts in its own defense. Despite the great gap in power, Whiteness seeks to ensure not only the maintenance of the divide but that it increases with each passing day.
Frankly, I find that insulting and racist in its own right.
One could call out specific White individuals or groups as seeking to maintain and increase the divide between White people and non-White people (such as those opposing healthcare reform, for example). Or, one could just call all White people racist, simply because they’re White, and they benefit from “White Privilege”.
That attitude is the other side of why we’re not in a “post-racial” America. On one side are those who believe that Black people and other People of Color are inferior (and worse). On the other side are those who believe that all White people completely don’t understand anything about race, and therefore, continue to oppress non-Whites by their very existence. Obviously, neither side is “right”.
I’m a woman. Women earn less than men even for the same work. I don’t blame men, or maleness, for that. It’s a societal issue. As more people get on board with the idea of equal work for equal pay, we will likely have just that. It’s going to take awhile. Possibly, a long, long while.
It’s going to take people of all different colors working to realize that color and race as classifications are no better than lumping a super ball and a paper clip together just because they’re green. We’re making gains. Certainly, there are setbacks. We can’t just point to Barack Obama and say “See? All better!” But to blame all White people for the fact that racism still exists is counterproductive. It inspires the incorrect belief that Black people blame White people for everything that goes wrong. Black people aren’t poor because of lack of access to good educations, they’re poor because they don’t work hard and blame White people that they can’t go to a good school. It’s an incredibly slippery slope.
I don’t think the Little Monkey doll was a product of purposeful Whiteness. I cannot believe that a company thought it was OK. I blame the workers at that company, regardless of color, for letting that abomination through. I hope people – preferably executives – get fired because of it. But I’m not going to apologize for the existence of said doll simply because of the color of my skin.
I understand being angry. Again, to play the woman card, when John McCain claimed that women made less money than men because men are better educated, I wanted to – well, I don’t think I can use that word on a family blog. But to see a conspiracy that involves every member of particular color group?
Hi Robyn, I respect your opinion, yet as a white woman, I agree with the statement quoted from Anti-Racist Parent. The quote doesn’t say “all White people seek to perpetuate the status-quo,” it says “Whiteness.” It is talking about historical systems of power and powerlessness – which is what you said too, so it seems you have some commonality with the Anti-racist parent article. I read the article, and it states that ignorance is purposeful – getting a little education in race and social systems is not difficult if you try. This is an interesting point and makes sense to me. Since you Robyn are clearly educated about race, I don’t think the statement is directed at you. You can be confident that you are contributing to decreasing the gap, not increasing it. You give a good example of people who oppose healthcare reform. I suspect that few of them are conciously seeking to increase inequality, however, they may be ignorant of how health inequality disproportionately harms minorities. Love and peace, Clarita