racist toy in goodwill window

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I was passing by goodwill in davis square tonight, and saw that they have a tar baby doll (black fabric, white button eyes, pickaninny braids, in gingham) in a rocking chair in their front window. I will call to let them know I find it distasteful*, but I do not know that a phone call will be heeded. I suggest anyone who is in Davis tomorrow (and who agrees; if you think I am out of line of course ignore this) might stop in and point out that the doll is an incredibly racist representation.

* I will go in if I have a chance, but I have to find a cherry pitter tomorrow, and davis square does not have a plethora of houseware stores, and I really miss you, Bowl & Board

Comments

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

...

I think you're overreacting, a bit. I would see that doll as a piece of history. It probably was an attempt at a Raggedy Ann doll for a non-white child. There's actually quite a few articles on the lack of dolls that resemble non-white (hell, non-blonde) children. The basic idea is that a child wants a baby doll that looks like them, and if they're not Caucasian, there are not a lot of dolls available to them.


What do you want Goodwill to do with the doll? It was donated to them, they put it in their window to sell it, and someone out there will be absolutely thrilled to buy that doll. Should they just throw the doll away because it's a relic from a different, less enlightened time?

That being said, I thought Goodwill wasn't selling toys any more. Something to do with bad toys made in China with lead paint or something.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

this is the doll. it was no more than a couple years old (I was about 2 feet from it, and I have made dolls and teddy bears in the past). It was not an antique, it was not a 'relic'. It was a recent doll, based on a pattern you can buy on eBay.

I *said* it had black fabric. This was not a raggedy ann imitation. This does not resemble anyone but a very racist stereotype.

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

So, I'm stupid here, help educate me.

"Tar Baby" as a term is something that I'm aware is considered racist now (at least in the US; in other countries it apparently isn't a racist term). I see that the origin of the doll is likely related to the origin of the term (from "The Tar-Baby is a doll made of tar and turpentine used to entrap Br'er Rabbit" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_baby).

What I'm not sure I understand is how, absent the term being used, this is particularly racist? I'll admit that I'm terrible at knowing these things, but is the very reference to a reasonably well-known folk story racist because the term is racist?

(If they were selling a copy of the Uncle Remus stories in the window at goodwill, would that be equally bad? That's the source of the Tar Baby story, after all...)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I've had pictures like that pointed out to me as "doesn't this look just like you?"

Thanks for the heads-up. Next time I go past that Goodwill store, if they still have the doll in their window I absolutely will go in and say something. If I get the kind of pushback you've gotten in the comments here I'll try to find time to print and photocopy some resources to bring with me.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

You had time to take a photo, but you didn't have time to go inside and share your feelings with a goodwill employee?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

The basic idea is that a child wants a baby doll that looks like them, and if they're not Caucasian, there are not a lot of dolls available to them.

As a Black woman, who was a Black little girl whose parents explicitly searched for dolls for her that resembled her, may I just say, oh PLEASE.

That pickaninny doll is a racial caricature that is nothing like "a Raggedy Ann doll for Black children," and I'm restraining myself from saying a *great deal more* on the subject.

I've deleted my previous last paragraph as unlikely to advance my point, but I will say this: in these discussions, people always bring up 'overreaction' as a reason why others should just quietly acquiesce to racism. That's what you've done here, and with that recommendation I completely, utterly disagree.

[kpht.livejournal.com]

Everything you've said in this thread has been really well-spoken and on point, and I really commend you for this.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I was specifically thinking of Asian and Hispanic dolls that are not "racist"- how many of those have you seen? How many Asian dolls that aren't geishas or "China dolls"? How many Mexican dolls? Racism is not just black and white; there are many shades of brown. But I'd be willing to bet that a traditional geisha doll displayed in Goodwill's window wouldn't cause a similar reaction, but it is considered just as racist by some people.

And I do think it's an overreaction. I get that the OP finds this doll "offensive." That's their right. But raising a hue and cry, calling the store, demanding they remove the doll, posting about it all over the internet and boycotting Goodwill? A little over the top. As a woman, I'm offended by liquor stores using lifesized cardboard stand-ups to sell beer, and a a life-long asthmatic, I'm offended by stores that prominently display and sell cigarettes. But I don't call the stores and demand they be removed. I don't boycott every store that has these displays. I don't broadcast online about how degrading it is to use a woman's body to peddle alcohol, or how smoking killed 2 uncles and my stepmother and gave two other aunts cancer.

So, in my opinion, getting up in arms about a doll to the point of demanding the store "do something about this travesty"? Is a bit of an overreaction. Everyone's going to be offended by something (the "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays" battle that happens every December should be ample proof of that). Other people are not going to understand why this is even an issue. That's what makes us individuals.

Incidentally, I am not going to mention my race, as it's irrelevant.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Not an over-reaction at all!

I actually had a "Raggedy Ann doll for Black children" when I was a kid -- I don't know why or when my mom got it for me, but it was part of my 15-or-so doll collection. And it was exactly the same as my white Raggedy Ann doll except the fabric for the skin was brown instead of off-white muslin, and the yarn hair was black instead of red. (Of course the "exactly the same" raises its own issues...)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Have some history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwogg

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I want to interject here that I have a business that sells sock dolls in a range of skin tones, and NONE of our dolls look like that offensive, racially stereotyped caricature.

The need for non-white/PoC representation in dolls is real.

*That* doll harkens back to blackface and other racist portrayals of African-descended people.

[badgerbag.livejournal.com]

It looks to me like a "golliwog" doll and there is a long history of those being racist and of people protesting them. It is not an attempt to make a non-white doll for a non-white child.

You might want to think about your instant leap to saying that someone is "overreacting" when they perceive racism. How is that your call to make? That is offensive in and of itself.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

In my pasty white ignorance, I was like "what is a pickaninny? the doll is kinda cute."

I asked the internet and it told me this: http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/links/newslist/indystar/

One of the links I found on ebay, after five other dolls that looked almost exactly like this one, was for an antique mistress/slave doll. One end has whiteface, the other blackface, and the skirt goes up and down so you can play with one or the other. Clever. Awful.

When it comes to objects of pervasive racism, I am indeed an ignorant prat. I hope that whoever did the goodwill window is another ignorant prat who takes being educated well and promptly takes it down.

If you're thinking "Come on, it's just a doll," look up microaggressions. Apparently trivial actions or statements serve to reinforce the racist order, constantly reminding those on the bottom of their place. But no individual item or statement is all that bad, and if you call it out you're just oversensitive and overreacting. If the doll were the only racist thing around, it would be just a doll. But it isn't.

Thanks for calling this out, thespian.

[gingicat]

Well said.

Hell, the fourth dearest person in my life is Black, and I would have not noticed this particular doll.

(Which is also to say that being a White person with POC friends does not make one all knowledgeable about their experience.)

[enveri.livejournal.com]

That was my response as well. I thought it was cute.

I personally don't find it rascist, but I am definitely not going to tell someone else that they shouldn't either.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

This is really well said.

"Microaggressions" is such a useful concept -- I cheered in recognition the first time I read it.

[misterthorn.livejournal.com]

The last time I went to the "vintage" part of SoWa Open Market (http://www.yelp.com/biz/sowa-vintage-market-boston), more than a few of the vendors there were selling this kind of stuff... a lot more than a few. Like, probably 60-80%. This garbage was prominently displayed too, not just tucked away under stuff where you had to look for it. Some vendors even seemed to specialize in it. There is either a big market for this stuff in the Boston area, or flea market vendors have a hard time unloading it and SoWa is, oddly, one of the few places where they're allowed to peddle it.

[fangirl715.livejournal.com]

I remember reading a number of years ago that there's a large collector's market for this kind of memorabilia, and that the majority of collectors specializing in it are themselves POC, with one of the reasons for collecting it being remembering the "bad old days." (I could swear I'd heard that Oprah collects it, but I'm not sure on that one.) Perhaps that's why it's sold at SOWA Open Market, and how Goodwill got the idea to display the doll? I don't think Goodwill intentionally set out to be offensive, but I can understand how people would be offended by the display, and it ought to be taken down.

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

Ever notice that GOODWILL is just one letter away from being an anagram of GOLLIWOG? Hmmm....

[ron_newman]

At 2:10 pm I did not see this object in the Goodwill windows.

Everything in the left window is part of a silent auction that ends on January 29,

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Just want to say, I really hope people who contacted Goodwill over this took this in the spirit of "the Goodwill people didn't know what this was" versus "You racist bastards". It seems unlikely they deliberately set out to piss off pretty much everybody in Somerville.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I know the woman I spoke to was black (I shop at Goodwill a lot, I am in fact wearing Doc Martens I bought there ($7!) on Saturday), and I recognized her voice. I was very clear that I did not think anyone had put it there thinking/knowing what it was, but that it had still bothered me because of the stereotypes associated with that image of a black child.

Most of my anger in this has been focused on people making excuses (blah! history! blah! I am not offended by it. you are overreacting!) than at Goodwill.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Thank you for bringing the potential issues with this doll to the store manager's attention!

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

thank you for pointing this out, & i hope you found a cherry pitter :)

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

is an incredibly racist representation.

Probably more effective to say that many people consider such a doll to be degrading of blacks (including some racist white people). But others might not see it as degrading at all, I think the degradation comes mostly from cultural tradition, not an absolute fact about the doll. So not making your complaint an absolute categorization is likely to make it more likely for them to understand and heed your complaint.