To ask any black posters how they feel about Gollywogs

[Bambambini]

There's a very popular FB post doing the rounds asking people to vote if they the think Gollywogs should make a come back.

I commented negatively on it as I was under the impression that black people often find them offensive and I was suspicious as to the intent of this meme doing the rounds and if it was just trying to stir up trouble. Then I looked online to back up this view and on another board black folk (or poeple who claimed to be black)seemed to be saying they couldn't care less.

So if you are black how do you feel about them, I don't want to be misrepresenting you. And to all those folk on FB voting yes and commenting how all this PC stuff is out of hand - maybe they need to see what black people actually think.

I think many of us had and have much loved childhood gollies.In the early 70s, nobody in my circle really thought about racism.I didn't know any black people in fact I thought they were all doctors because I had only seen them in the hospital .I know a chap who was one of the TV black and white minstrels (still fabulous singer in his 80s btw !) and he says it never even occurred to him that the show was racist.
But that was then, this is now.To go out and buy one in 2015 is a clear racist message

The more I read threads like this, the more I think my own parents must have been truly remarkable people. I am over 50, and when I was a small child we lived in rural Devon. I did not see a black person until I was about 10. But I still knew about racism, about how gollywogs were offensive, about apartheid, about all sorts of things outside my personal experience. So either my parents really were truly remarkable, or there is some retroactive justification going on.............

I am 46 If you are in your 50s you would have been a bit older by the time the anti-golly lobby kicked in and understood the issues more.

What I am saying is that I had it explained to me why gollywogs were racist and horrible when I was about 6. Which is 50 years ago. People did know, even then.

Absolutely, Bertrand. I knew why these horrible dolls were offensive when I was very young, because my mother explained it to me. The faux naif "we just didn't know any better" excuse might wash if we were talking only about children. But the adults who were buying these toys did know better (or certainly should have).

I'm 68 and never had one of those disgusting 'toys'.I lived in a very white area but by the age of 8 had visited the William Wilberforce Museum and knew much about slavery and the appalling way black people had been treated over the years. At 11, I watched the heartbreaking scenes at Little Rock, Arkansas as black children tried to lawfully access previously white only schools. My mother stopped my grandmother from giving me the golly labels from the Robertson Jars and explained why. People have known for a long time about what the gollies were really about but too many didn't care as racism was (is?)so embedded in our society. The people behind the FB posts about this have now started on the old chestnut of why children aren't allowed to sing baa baa black sheep. FFS

I don't remember having any thoughts or discussions on gollywogs growing up in the 70's. Don't think I ever had one or it ever came up. I think a lot of people just have never thought about it and they just disappeared, just like the Black and White MS. Crazy to want to bring them back now though when they are so divisive and unnecessary. I still think most folk just haven't given it much thought.

I can't believe that any sane person can even look at a golly and not think, 'whoa that's so racist'. Like, look at it! Frizzy hair, staring eyes, big red lips, fucking minstrel outfit. It's an ugly, ugly caricature. The amount of people saying that they are ok just goes to show how deeply internalised racism can become.

And it doesn't matter what colour I am to hold this opinion, I'm just a human being who believes we can and should treat other humans with respect and love.

Just because you think something isn't racist, doesn't mean it isn't racist.

Just because you think something isn't racist, doesn't mean it isn't racist.

Needs repeating a few times.

The robertson's brand is now only associated with marmalade and is linked to Paddington bear (with, presumably various marketing tie-ins).

Even if there were no racist overtones the idea that any child would ditch Paddington because they would rather have a gollywog badge from the seventies is deluded.

Nobody is missing out on anything.

At 11, I watched the heartbreaking scenes at Little Rock, Arkansas as black children tried to lawfully access previously white only schools.

Thank you for your post Bourdic. Based on some of the other posts, I was beginning to wonder if there had been no reporting at all in the UK of the US Civil Rights Movement.

OP this is not answering the question you asked but it's worth noting that Facebook memes are typically very provocative / designed to stir up strong or large response to increase click rates ultimately for advertising revenue purposes.

'Share if you love your sister' 'How many likes for this brave soldier' etc etc - really just hide & ignore / block.

It's just about advertising - the subject is not relevant to the originator of the message - usually a company tasked with increasing revenue.

I didn't find out why gollies wear that outfit until about five years ago I gradually went off the toys/badges during childhood (b.1955) as it became clear they were supposed to represent black people, which they'd certainly failed to do for me and was obviously offensive. I started collecting trolls instead!

Little could I have known that creatures with stubby legs and wild, multicoloured hair would come to be represented by people - on the internet

I had one when I was young (1970s), but I didn't realise that it was a black person. I just thought it was some sort of teddy

They are awful though

Why, I am? That was obviously thrown in to be provocative in some manner.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

When I was little Robertson's jam/ marmalade (I think it was) had one on the lid. As a child it was innocent, but the term 'wog' is racist, so now I would no support the return of the toy. I'm white (not black) so can't comment as a black person, but I can't imagine any black person would appreciate the term wog, whether or not it has golly in front of it or is referring to a toy.
I (in ignorance) used the term Indian giver in another thread. I was convinced it was innocent, then I had a look at its origin and have to concede it is racist (even if I didn't mean it to be at the time of saying it).
I think 'wog' is very obviously racist though and I don't think, if I were black and had a daughter, I'd appreciate her receiving a gollywog as a gift.

So depressing to see that some people are thoroughly unashamed of promoting blatant symbols of racism.

Well Iam I feel sorry for your children

IamlovedbyG Aw... each of your kids have one. How cute! This must be your family photo. You all look so lovely. :)

senpai

Why can't I, as a white person, find racism offensive? That viewpoint is as damaging as holding a racist viewpoint.

I'm not gay but I will fight to defend anybody's right to be who they are.

I'm not disabled but I will vehemently challenge use disabilist language.

In not an ethnic minority, but I will challenge anybody who piles scorn and bile, who seeks to belittle another human being because of their skin colour or country of origin (refugees/immigrants).

I may be white but I won't sit back and allow these things to happen in front of me.