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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Golliwogs...

544 replies

GoodNewsTwo · 03/09/2018 17:44

A colleague of mine today put a small golliwog figurine on her desk. Said she's always liked them and that she doesn't see an issue. I explained that some people (myself included) find them offensive and dated, and think they are too controversial for a workplace setting. As a black woman, I don't really like to sit and look at it all day. I'm sure many people wouldn't regardless of their ethnicity/race. AIBU to ask her again to remove it? I don't want to be 'that girl' who has an issue with race (I don't) - on this occasion, I just feel extremely uncomfortable.

wwyd?

OP posts:
Lizzie48 · 04/09/2018 14:08

I agree and can't understand why HQ is not deleting the racist posts as well as the troll hunting ones.

This is true. On the other hand, the racist/ignorant posters are being robustly pulled up by others on this thread.

MyCatIsBonkers · 04/09/2018 14:09

You should have binned it when she went to the bog. Then when she asked about it told her that [insert name of CEO/scary senior manager] took it when they passed by and you couldn't ask what they were doing as they looked furious. Then leave her to sweat.

Original poster
GoodNewsTwo · 04/09/2018 14:10

On the other hand, the racist/ignorant posters are being robustly pulled up by others on this thread.

And I'm so glad for it. If there was no such thing as a name change I would say leave the posts up. I think it's more important to know which posters are racists than to delete their posts!

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 04/09/2018 14:12

Not sure whether this helps or not, OP, but there have always been some people in the U.K. who object to gollywogs. My mother told me why they were unacceptable in about 1965. No one in my parents' circle would have had one in the house. So the wide eyed "Oh but they were just toys" brigade are racist now, and their parents were racist then. Just nasty, Ukippy people.

2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney · 04/09/2018 14:17

Good luck OP looks like it’s getting sorted from your latest update. I am really sorry you have had to deal with such awful posters here . If it’s any comfort I think there are more supporting you than there are fucking rascists on here.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 04/09/2018 14:20

Yep. Nobody really thinks they're just toys. They are hiding ( not very well ) behind their racist and inflammatory views. I had a woman on my FB that shared the horrible meme about how we should be able to still have golliwogs and if people didn't like it, tough. She was apparently very nice too.

I told her very plainly what I thought about her views just before I blocked her Wink

BertrandRussell · 04/09/2018 14:30

And the people who have one because it's the only thing they have to remember their dear old granny by are lying racists too. And their aforementioned granny.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 04/09/2018 14:32

Absolutely!

JamieVardysHavingAParty · 04/09/2018 14:36

GreatDuck

Yep. If you (universal you) were a genuinely nice person who happened to be sentimentally attached to this one particular memento from early childhood, you'd be a bit embarrassed about it and ust discreetly keep it in your bedroom or a memories box, like everyone else does with their old teddies. You wouldn't be using your childhood nostalgia to justify having it on public display it, or to justify shops selling them today.

deydododatdodontdeydo · 04/09/2018 14:42

Some awful people on this thread.
My mum had toy golliwogs in the 50s and is horrified by it now.
"What were we thinking?" she says.
So even someone brought up with them as normal toys can now see how awful they are.

PuntCuffin · 04/09/2018 14:47

I just wanted to come and voice my support for you GoodNewsTwo. Some of the posts on this thread have been utterly despicable, and I have been completely horrified by some of the blatant racism. I am sorry that this got directed at you.

I am glad to hear your manager is onboard with you and giving you support.

Flowers
GreatDuckCookery6211 · 04/09/2018 14:52

Exactly Jamie, if it meant that much to you that you couldn't throw it away (Hmm) you keep it at home not on your desk where your colleague who happens to be black can see it.

ilovesooty · 04/09/2018 14:53

Glad your manager is taking this seriously and plans to act on your concern.

DeloresJaneUmbridge · 04/09/2018 15:06

Great to see your last update regarding your manager GoodNewsTwo

This thread has shocked and appalled me.

Racism is alive and well but at least you can see who they are on the thread.

There may be those who thought them innocent toys at one time but my late Gran born in 1904 always said they were racist. She’ would never have allowed one in the house...and we are not talking about a middle class educated woman here...she was born in poverty and stayed relatively poor but she was astute enough to know racism when she saw it,

Nobody these days can have any doubt that these are racist.

MeyMary · 04/09/2018 15:07

@GreatDuckCookery

Yes! My (step) grandfather had a few old photographs (from parents, older siblings, aunts etc...) that were clearly taken in the 3rd Reich.

I don't think people would be expected to throw away family photos but it would be incredibly inappropriate if someone had them on their desk at work.

They're just inanimate, historical objects. But would anyone (sane who doesn't happen to like or at least condone national socialism...) defend behaviour like that?

Anyhow, I'm really glad your manager took your concerns seriously and seems to understands the issue. unlike some mumsnetters

UsedtobeFeckless · 04/09/2018 15:09

Keep us posted - l'm keen to hear about Racist-Desk-Toy-Woman's cumuppance ...

Belina · 04/09/2018 15:13

if she likes them she can keep them at home. I have one its in my cupboard it was on my bed until my sister asked what I was doing with a racist doll, I removed it as I did not want anyone else to find offense and that is in my own home

Clandestino · 04/09/2018 15:14

@GreatDuckCookery
I was similarly shocked and appalled when a person I had as a friend on FB said that the whole uproar about Roseanne Barr describing Valerie Jarrett as a product of Muslim Brotherhood and the Planet of the Apes was political correctness taken too far because that's exactly how she looked like.
I told him he was a racist and kicked him out immediately. I didn't block him and because we have a circle of mutual friends I later on saw him describing as rude and "not a lady". I'd rather be rude and unladylike than a stupid racist, thank you very much.

Belina · 04/09/2018 15:15

Racism is alive and well but at least you can see who they are on the thread.

this

shocked at some of the answers

SenecaFalls · 04/09/2018 15:31

And the people who have one because it's the only thing they have to remember their dear old granny by are lying racists too. And their aforementioned granny.

Yes indeed, to this. I'm still flabbergasted at people suggesting that they didn't used to be racist back in the day. That's sort of like saying that Jim Crow laws in the US weren't racist because that was just the way things were back then. Ridiculous and deeply offensive.

Jimmers · 04/09/2018 15:36

Glad to read that your manager is supportive. Now let’s hope they’re quick at dealing with it & the item is removed immediately

Fucker1234 · 04/09/2018 15:43

This reply has been deleted

This post has been hidden until the MNHQ team can have a look at it.

Fucker1234 · 04/09/2018 15:45

This reply has been deleted

This post has been hidden until the MNHQ team can have a look at it.

Feefeetrixabelle · 04/09/2018 15:47

It is @fucker1234 how many black parents on this forum do you think have had to comfort their child after they’ve been called a wog (shortened offensive term from golliwog) at school? 100%? 90%? Less?

AllyMcBeagle · 04/09/2018 15:49

The figurine is still there and has now been stuck down with blue tac so I will be speaking to HR at some point this afternoon!

Am I the only one who thinks it's weirdly funny that she stuck it down with blu tack?

I just can't work out why she's done that. Does she think it can't be removed now even if it is deemed to be racist because the blu tack is so strong!?

Anyway, I'm glad your line manager is rightly on your side OP and would be very interested in any further updates about what happens. She shouldn't have brought it to work to begin with and the fact that after being asked to take it down because it's obviously offensive she has not only refused but blu tacked it in place 🤣 shows she is clearly a CF!

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