How is this still allowed?!

[NotUmbongoUnchained]

My friends just sent me this! How are these still allowed to be sold?!

I went to an event a few weekends ago where there were dancers partially "blacked up" my DF and FIL kicked up a right fuss because they weren't fully blacked up and they were expecting to see this traditional dance. I was amazed they even did it partially tbh

Isnt that a very old tradition that has its roots in people smearing their faces with coal dust and mud to hide their identity, and nothing at all to do with "blacking up" in the sense that it has nothing at all to do with black people?

I've seen them for sale in seaside towns too (keyrings and dolls etc).

They still sell them in some seaside towns. Odd as I can't see they sell many.

There is no law against the sale of golliwogs or golliwogs mugs.
If they are being manufactured and sold clearly someone has seen a market for them.
It is however a clear indicator for you to inform the manager that you will not be patronising that establishment till it stops selling them.

AmazingGrace16 was it the coconutters

www.coconutters.co.uk/history/

Sadly it's not illegal.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/21/right-to-sell-golliwogs-not-something-should-be-fighting-for-in-2016-suzanne-moore

Probably the Border Morris, who wear 'tattercoats' - costumes covered with strips of torn rags - and their dances are similar to regular Morris. The black face is traditional, goes back hundreds of years, and is associated with disguise and paganism. (exDH did Morris and I once asked somebody about it). Some modern groups wear masks instead or use other colours.

There were some in a shop in Bridlington yesterday.

Sadly it's not illegal

Its not sad, its good. Things like this should die off naturally. Once we start making things like this illegal, who gets to decide what is allowed and what isn't?

I saw the actual dolls for sale at an Essex seaside resort. Haven't been back.

The problem is that they display a racist image.

It’s not hard.

Here we go ...

@BaronessEllaSaturday

Really not the same thing. Traditional morris/molly dancers have roots going back medieval times or even before with black or coloured faces. It's more to do with disguise. Nothing to do with charactering people of colour.

Witchmen
Border Morris
Gog Magog more about disguise than colour

I'm white, loved my golly's in the 60s.

Of course they are offensive and racist. How can anyone decent defend them.

Charolais, if you had spent several years as the target of vile and racist language and conduct which regularly included the use of the W word, you would understand just how offensive these things are. Why would you want to upset someone who had undergone that experience by selling or even possessing them? And why is finding it distressing only indicative of having a chip on the shoulder?

I saw some in St.Ives last summer.

I’ve seen them sold in almost every seaside town I’ve visited in England, awful things.

"Isnt that a very old tradition that has its roots in people smearing their faces with coal dust and mud to hide their identity, and nothing at all to do with "blacking up" in the sense that it has nothing at all to do with black people?"

Let's not let rational thought get in the way of a good gender neutral non racially steriotyped witch hunt. Burn the shop down!

"Not racist"?

Really?

So... you are going to tell a black person that these are not racist? Kind of like a man telling a woman "Oh... that's not sexual harassment when I made a comment about your big tits...where is your sense of humour?"

Sad days

I like them, but i'm a big fan of Robertson's marmalade. I don't see the problem really, they're just cups. Imagine how life would be if all things with particular connotations were banned. Should we ban Saint George's Cross too?

And the award for the most Daily Mail post on MN goes to..... congratulations.

They are not racist and the people who loved them were not racist, but I do believe the people who hate them have a chip on their shoulder

I don’t know where to start. I hate all this “oh but it’s always been fine to me” pish.

It used to be fine to beat the crap out of your wife and children.
It used to be fine to send small children down mines.
It used to be fine (by which I mean socially acceptable, of course it was never actually fine) to “own” a black person as a slave.
It used to be fine to have “no blacks, no dogs, no Irish” signs on your front door.
It used to be fine to vote for the BNP.

None of that is actually fine. It’s awful. Ditto for those sodding dolls and all the connotations that come with them.

The Morris Dancing with black face is a 500 years old tradition. Not racist, surely???

There's no law against Golliwogg that I'm aware of, I I have seen them around. I remember as a child you could collect golliwog badges from Robinsons, which had a Golliwog as their symbol on their jam. they are still popular with collectors. And you can still get Florence Upton's books with their Golliwog hero. though come to think of it poor old Florence would probably get it in the neck for being both racist (because the Golliwog is black) ANd sexist, because he frequently rescues his friends the Dutch dolls from perils. she's damned either way.