Racism is in the Eye of the Beholder
One of the people for whom I work as a personal assistant travels, extensively. He has a very close friend who is always the recipient of gifts from these trips. The last time Ken came home from a trip to Paris, he brought a package that appeared to be many small packets of (what could only) be peanuts..maybe candies. My best friend, David, was hanging out with me at work, since he and Ken are close friends, as well. When I came upon this gift I said "These can only be for Adrian" and David looked at me and, together, we both said
"Why are there pictures of Little Black Sambo on there?"
It was offensive.
I remember the book Little Black Sambo. I read it as a child. That was the sixties, even the seventies. I also remember moving back to the states (and, more specifically) back to Texas after graduating from High School in Switzerland. That was 1982. There was a restaurant in Fort Worth called Sambo's and there was a big statue outside the restaurant of Little Black Sambo. I remember being appalled that in that day and age there would be something so racist. I made a very vocal remark upon it that drew bemused surprise from people.
"Oh, yes, that place has been around for years. People love it."
Sambo's went out of business later that year.
When Ken came in from the other room, we asked about the gift. They were packets of peanuts. When you pull each of the packets off of the cardboard you discovered that there was a big size illustration of the monkey seen on the smaller packets. David and I protested that this was no monkey--it was Little Black Sambo. The argument that followed lasted a good four minutes. Ken insists that the illustration is a monkey. We insist that it is a racist drawing. Finally, we had to table the discussion.
It is my responsibility to get Adrian's gifts to him, after each trip. I brought home this latest present and set it on the kitchen table. Pat walked in and looked at it and said,
"Why is Little Black Sambo on all these candy packets?"
posted by StephenMosher at 7:25 AM
2 Comments:
Um, so why is it racist? Just because it's a black character? What if it was asian, or white? I guess it would still be racist because the character would have still have a "race", right? Uhuh.
Would you have reacted that way if the peanut packets had a white character on it? I don't think so.
(Sorry, I was looking for some song and stumbled on you blog)
Ok Mister or Miss Anonymous. I got to read your comment several weeks ago but because of difficulties loggin into blogger, was never able to respond.
The fact that the character is black is the essence of racism in THIS situation. If it were a reference to Mickey Rooney in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (arguably the most famously racist performance put on film) to which I referred, it would be racism toward the asian race. If it were an example of some inbred, gap-toothed, beer guzzling, pick-up driving, dumb as a stump Bubba, it would be racism toward the people of the South. If it were some illustration of some masculine, heavyset, toolbelt wearing, mullet sporting woman, it would be racism directed toward gay women.
In THIS case, it was an illustration of a famous example of racism toward a member of the African American race.
The bottom line is that the peanut packet DOESN'T have a white character on it; so there would be no race reference about which I would need to write. Your objection to my story makes absolutely no sense, whatsoever.
And I, by the way, am not a caucasian. I am part pacific islander, part native American and a bunch of other mutt mixtures in between.
So, while I appreciate your saying you are sorry for jumping all over me, I doubt (extremely) the validity of your apology and view you as someone who just wanted to raise a little hell.
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