Is This Inappropriate?

[ExcuseTheCheese]

We had the whole 'coolest monkey in the jungle' thing but I saw the jumper first whilst looking for some clothes for DD, in the search results all you see is the jumper and not the model. I thought it was an odd thing to put on a child's jumper in all honesty, I thought it should perhaps say boss. Anyway, I clicked on the other pictures and saw the ethnicity of the model and thought that someone, somewhere has made a massive error in judgement and that this is actually quite inappropriate. AIBU?

Well, it says a lot about history, really. We’re not seeing something that isn’t there, this stuff happened, and formed the context and cultural references we have today.

The word master has its roots in slavery. Even if it’s used differently by some people now, that’s where it originates.

And I speak as a former black child!

I am 60+ so not raised in a pc era. My first thought was woah! Very inappropriate IMO.

Reggaeton

The word master has its roots in slavery

The word Master means a lot more than that, it refers to someone who has people work for them, not just a slave owner. It can mean someone who is especially skilled in a particular field, it is also an old fashioned title for a teacher.

In this particular instance the top is referring to the old saying of 'being the master of your own destiny'. i.e taking control of your own life. That expression comes from the habit of referring to ship owners as 'Masters'. If you were the Master of your own destiny you owned the ship and could decide where it went.

Its another example of a completely innocuous statement being taken out of context to manufacture fake outrage.

Slavery ... FFS.

The fact that so many of you see master and a black child and think slaves says a lot about you.
This ^^. My first thought was 'master of your own destiny'. If I really thought about master I'd then think about dogs and masters. Only on Mumsnet would I ever be prompted to consider slavery when I saw someone with black skin.

People who work for them, particularly slaves and servants. Even the examples given of school masters and dogs and masters - it implies an imbalance of power doesn’t it? Not a symbiotic relationship.

Anyway. I’m not up in arms or proclaiming down with this sort of thing. I just think it’s not been thought through very well and if a friend owned that company, or if I worked there, I’d have pointed it out before it was released.

Just as you see people dying that to be offended over the slightest thing, I see people doggedly insisting that history and cultures references don’t exist and we’re the racists for, erm, seeing low level racism.

Slavery is an integral part of black history, it’s made us who we are. Often, it’s why we live in the places we do. In the US in particular people are still living with the ramifications and atttitudes started during the slave trade. It’s not some massive, random leap.

I honestly don't see anything offensive about it at all.
Always be your own master.
Instilling this from a young age is surely a good thing?

Fine on a white person, on a black person is impossible not to associate with black slave history.

The fact that so many of you see master and a black child and think slaves says a lot about you.

It does, it says we are acknowledging hundreds of years and millions of PoC being kidnapped from their homes, shoved onto transportation, beaten, raped and ultimately owned by wealthy white people. Millions of people losing their lives to a disgusting practise wrought by my (and many people on here’s) ancestors. It’s appalling. It isn’t just a part of black history. It is part of white history; a shameful, disgusting part that there are yet to be made reparations for (as if we even can. Yes it says a lot about us. It says a fuck of a lot about you Whatshallidonowpeople that you don’t.

I wonder how / where the clothes are made (sweat shop?)

Be your own boss would have been fine but connotations of the word ‘master’ hmmm I agree op

It's not as if 'I am my own master' is something little boys regularly say, is it?

Would it not be more racist to suggest that only white children can wear that top?

Nobody is suggesting that, and yes that would be racist. People are suggesting that too shouldn’t exist.

I think it's fine, putting aside the fact that clothes with slogans are tacky AF. (Not that it matters, but I'm mixed race and would not take offence at a young black boy wearing this).

Defo odd thing to have on a kids top but I think you may be looking a bit too much into this.

I didn't share the outrage on the cheeky monkey one but find this one a bit 'ew'

I have to wonder about the mind of someone offended by this, same as the ones who sexualise children by taking offence at bikinis and shorts. It's always on behalf of others. I'm white so I can't start dictating what should and shouldn't be offensive to other races when it couldn't possibly be offensive to me.
I tell my son he's the master of his own destiny all the time, I guess I should expect a knock on the door about my hate crimes now.

Just makes me think of Dr Who!

I would think that phrase on a black child’s T-shirt is going to make white people more uncomfortable than black people. It seems more like an activist t-shirt for someone trying to highlight racism, rather than a phrase that’s used to oppress black people. In which case it’s appropriateness would depend on the situation.

I'm flanking you on both sides Handsoff

I think putting a black child in that t shirt is demonstrating that the ingrained beliefs about black people can be overcome. There comes a point where we have to leave behind the insults from the past and move forward. My kids are black. I would put them in that T shirt.
This is about white embarrassment, not blacks feeling racially abused. IMO all young boys can be 'little monkeys'.
I think it's a bold statement about being free.
What about if a kid with Downs wore a t shirt saying 'I can do anything'? Obviously down to disability that isn't true. Would that be inappropriate?

Not keen. Overtones of

slavery
bdsm

a no from me.

I am also generally not keen on "empowerfulising" messages. What is the point, the context? As a child, he can't be his own master. At home he is expected to do what his parents say, at school he is expected to do what the teachers say. he will not be financially independent or have many ways of changing his circumstances for the better if they are poor (arguably few people do, really, there's little social mobility, but children are very much dependent on the adults around them). In what way can a, what, 9yo or so, be "his own master"? It sounds good if you ignore the slavery / bdsm thing, but it means absolustely fuck all.

I also initially thought it said "waster" which is not great either!