Offensive children tshirt

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Was at soft play earlier with my sister and our respective dc. My dc are white British, sisters are mixed white British/Jamaican.

As we were leaving a black woman came up to my sister and had a go at her, telling her that her sons top was offensive and that she should be ashamed of herself for putting it on him as it is racist because it had ‘cheeky monkey’ written on it. It’s just a bog standard long sleeved tshirt from Asda. My sister told the woman to mind her own business and we left. My sister is furious, she doesn’t think she’s done anything wrong, and the fact this was all done in front of the dc is getting to her as she had to explain to her 6 year old he wasn’t racist. But it’s got me thinking if she would have said something if it was one of my white dc wearing it?

Would you think it was offensive/racist if you saw it? And does it make a difference the race of the child wearing it?

No its not just about context and intent - legally, racism( and the other isms) are also about perception . If someone uses a word that I as a person with disabilities perceive to be disabilist then it is and I don’t care a flying fig about their intent or the context. W have no idea about the back story of the black woman in the OP - maybe her or her children had been likened to monkeys not in a good way. I think she was brave. The parallels between some comments on here and the excuses that are being made by some men re sexism are clear .

If I ever hear the phrase "some people are just looking to be offended" ever again in my lifetime, it'll be too soon.

I’d like to know what ‘ looking to be offended’ actually means. Does it mean not being prepared to put up with racist/sexist/ disabilist shit and being prepared to say something?

Is it on a par with ‘not having a sense of humour’ ‘getting out of bed the wrong side’ or’ wrong time of the month is it love’

My white friend and her black DP both used to affectionately call their mixed race DS a cheeky monkey. Her mum took her aside one day and said she should stop saying it in case it was misinterpreted. It came from a place of concern and love for her grandchild but any negative connotations hadnt even crossed my friend and her DP's minds.

It absolutely is in this case Bourdic.
Referring to a black person as a 'monkey' is a racist term. Refering to a small child as a 'cheeky monkey', regardless of race, is not racist.
Yes, they refer to the same animal, but have totally different meanings.
For your information, my husband is non white and my children are mixed race.

But the point I was making is that the woman has every right to perceive it as racist depending on her context. We don’t know the full context do we?

Bourdic spot on.

There re loads of other things to call children. It's not hard to avoid one that might possibly upset someone surely?