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...)

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

"Tar baby" isn't exactly the right term. "Pickaninny" or "Pickaninny doll" is really what that doll is. It's a pretty unambiguous example of the racist caricature. If we presume that Goodwill is simply ignorant of the history, then anyone who lets them know of it will be doing them a huge favor, because the controversy is only beginning.

If they're not ignorant of it, well--

[crschmidt.livejournal.com]

That gives me more pointers to look at, but still seems like whether having (or selling) such a doll is racist/offensive is a toss-up in the 50/50 range.

*shrug* I guess I'm simply not an appropriate measure here; even reading everything I can find on the topic, it still seems a bit of an overreaction to me.

[dominika-kretek.livejournal.com]

There are many reasons, some defensible, some not so defensible, why someone might have or sell such a doll. I'm having trouble drawing a line from any of the more defensible reasons to the act of putting the doll in a shop's display window without explanation, but who knows? Maybe Goodwill sidelines in historical artifacts of American racism nowadays.

Anyway, the doll itself is offensive, or to put it another way, extremely racially charged, at least in the United States. Many, many people will experience the sight of that doll as shocking, upsetting, or confrontational. If you're not having that reaction, all I can say is "trust me on this one."

[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.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Why is there always someone in these discussions who tries to use the concept of "overreaction" to persuade people to silently acquiesce to racism?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

This is well and truly said; thank you for saying it.

[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.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I was sort of expecting it. mentioned it on facebook, and got told by someone that they were "sorry you found it upsetting" in a pretty patronizing tone, which is not what I would say I was; I was *angry*, that in 2012, in the days leading up to MLK Day, I am still seeing shit like this.

[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.)

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

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

[ron_newman]

Hmm! Bringing this full circle, the page says "The Golliwogg influenced Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy" and links to Robin Bernstein's book Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights for more information on that.

(this is a Google Books link, so you can read at least part of the chapter "The Black and Whiteness of Raggedy Ann" online. Things I never knew!)

[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.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

My feeling is, I'm not deeply knowledgeable about the history of dolls like this, but if people who are tell me they're problematic and upsetting, I'm going to defer to them on this.

[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.

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

I would have plead ignorance, too. Hopefully they don't know, and will take it down upon enlightenment. After all, according to the link, the Golliwog is "the least known of the major anti-Black caricatures in the United States" (not sure how they measure that, but there you go).

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that link. I'd heard the word a bazillion years ago and had NO idea of its history. (Another of the benefits of privilege.)

I side with those who support removing it. While there may be situations in which it is "acceptable" to display such items (e.g., some academic or historical events, where their presence serves a sober purpose), I think this isn't one of them. There's no compelling reason to exhibit something that's profoundly hateful and mean to so many people. That's not "overreacting," it's their lives.

[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?

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

"it still seems a bit of an overreaction to me."

Without historical context the doll seems innocent enough. The historical context isn't necessarily something you or I are likely to learn in school or necessarily pick up along the way.

With the historical content, and I'm glad someone brought up Golliwoggs in a link below, the doll becomes more insidious.

Think of all the times George W Bush was compared to a chimpanzee. There was no racial context there. It was rude and juvenile, but not racist. Now look at the people who have compared Barack Obama to an ape. If you didn't know about the history of comparing blacks to apes or chimps as a means of dehumanizing them it would look like more of the same juvenile rudeness. People complaining about Obama being compared to an ape would then be accused of overacting.

A lot of things seem like an overreaction if you don't know the context. How well do you think someone would fare if they posted a job opening with the text "No Irish Need Apply" in the Boston area? Even if they meant it as a joke there would be a lot of Irish Americans who would be justified in getting pissed off.

[ron_newman]

Goodwill is usually closed at night. Also, the OP doesn't live in Davis Square anymore, though she often visits here.

[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.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

yeah, since they closed an hour and a half earlier, that would have been a problem, but good vague attempt at snark there.