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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to tell my mum to find her own racist knitting patterns

201 replies

gamerwidow · 26/01/2018 16:21

I am currently embroiled in a disagreement with my Mum because she wants me to find her a knitting pattern for a golliwog.
I have tried unsuccessfully to explain that this not the innocent toy she thinks it is and have told her that I am staggered that she thinks it is anything but racist. She is only 70, she should know better.
She is now in a massive sulk.
Am I right or should i just have let her have her knitting pattern?

OP posts:
BIWI · 26/01/2018 18:34

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AssassinatedBeauty · 26/01/2018 18:34

@Cabininthewoods69 so you know that golliwogs are a negative caricature of black people, from the same origins as black & white minstrels, yes? But you don't want worry about that and you think it's a sad world where other people do? A less racist world is a sad world to you.

latara23 · 26/01/2018 18:35

I can also say that I've never seen a gollie?

None of my friends or family have ever had them or wanted them; also I go to many antique fairs and they certainly don't sell them - hmm I wonder why??

ilovesooty · 26/01/2018 18:35

Cabin I'm really wondering how a 31 year old has managed to be brought up with such an attitude which even most older people these days would find ignorant and peculiar.

ItsAllABitStrangeReally · 26/01/2018 18:36

Just tell her golliewog patterns aren't available anymore because they're racist and find her a pattern for a black, knitted doll.

I like this one.

AIBU to tell my mum to find her own racist knitting patterns
VladmirsPoutine · 26/01/2018 18:39

@Cabininthewoods69 So glad you and your dd get to bond over racist delights. You must be such a great person!

latara23 · 26/01/2018 18:40

I did find a Hitler Jugend knife at an antique fair once along with some SS crockery (seriously they even had their own initialled tea sets) but that's part of military history & in my view belongs in a museum of 'stuff from the bad old days'....

A bit like gollies really.

latara23 · 26/01/2018 18:42

I remember a colleague of my dads had one of those horrible old money boxes where the money goes into a black boys mouth - I was about 8 and felt uncomfortable with it.

Gollies are from that same era.

grannytomine · 26/01/2018 18:43

If you are a black woman, and you can't see the problem with golliwogs, then you are, indeed both stupid and ignorant. What a rude post.

daftpink · 26/01/2018 18:43

@BIWI how is when I signed up relevant?

But I am now the 2nd person you have have called ignorant and stupid on this thread.

Are you black? Or do you just enjoy telling people of colour what they should be offended by?

VladmirsPoutine · 26/01/2018 18:45

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NotACleverName · 26/01/2018 18:47

Personwithhorse clichéd, hackneyed insult alert!

daftpink anyone can claim to be anything they want to be on the internet.

I wouldn't do this either. And age is no excuse ffs.

Bluelady · 26/01/2018 18:48

Wow, now a woman of colour is being insulted because she thinks gollys are OK. I've seen it all now.

HoldMeCloserTonyDanza · 26/01/2018 18:50

A brand new poster is being mocked because she joined up purely to post a foolish opinion.

Viviennemary · 26/01/2018 18:53

I agree that they are not accepted these days and I think if she knits one she will find it is not wanted by the organizers. And even if they accept in it's highly likely somebody will complain. Tell her it's not appropriate these days and to knit something else.

BIWI · 26/01/2018 18:53

Actually, I phrased it wrong. I should have said 'if anyone of any colour can't see the problem with golliwogs, then you are, indeed both stupid and ignorant'

HTH

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 26/01/2018 18:54

Golliwogs are still allowed, but are more simply known as Gollies.
As an innocent child, mine was very well loved, and always known as Gollie.

Pluckedpencil · 26/01/2018 18:57

I'd just find her a cute pattern for any doll and say that's all you could find.

daftpink · 26/01/2018 19:00

Yes I signed up earlier today. But surely it stands to reason that my first post would be in response to something I actually had a opinion on, on?

TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot · 26/01/2018 19:00

All you white people saying golliwogs are okay because you had them as a child and aren't racist... So you were unharmed by golliwogs then, so that makes them OK?

FFS it's not about you

AssassinatedBeauty · 26/01/2018 19:02

@Sugarpiehoneyeye just removing the last part of the name doesn't really do very much to address the racist basis of the doll.

VladmirsPoutine · 26/01/2018 19:03

@daftpink I feel so much pity for people like you. So obtuse yet so ardent.

ghostyslovesheets · 26/01/2018 19:09

One black person saying it fine doesn’t make it so - not when most black people disagree

Being black doesn’t shut down the argument and being whites doesn’t make your opinion invalid

I am white and I understand the repeated objections made by BME people about gollies

BertrandRussell · 26/01/2018 19:09

Oh good. A gollywog thread. It's been a while. Have we had
a) I lovemy golly-It's the only thing I have to remind me of my dear old granny
b) it's a black doll-you're racist if you don't like them
c) I didn't know they were anything to do with black people-and I still don't think they are
d) my partner's black and he loves gollywogs
e) they might have been racist once but they aren't any more.

VladmirsPoutine · 26/01/2018 19:12

f) It's 2018 get over it, racism no longer exists
g) Well it's clearly your problem as I'm not racist
h) It's just a doll, get a grip
i) It's not causing harm to anyone
j) Get off your PC-high horse