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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:
Clandestino · 04/09/2018 15:52

@Fucker1234 - good parenting means we don't bring up racist.

derxa · 04/09/2018 16:01

but there are pockets of ignorance in this country, especially where it's nearly 100% white and rural, where people don't travel much (I know it sounds mad)- and in these places such things still happen
I live in such a place and strangely enough I never see any golliwogs. I'll do a door to door search.

Original poster
GoodNewsTwo · 04/09/2018 16:01

Oh this is a site about parenting?

What about that sex section that you can't post on until you've been a member for 3 months. Are most of the posts on there about parenting too?

The more we ALL learn, the more we have to teach.

OP posts:
Coco2891 · 04/09/2018 16:14

Wt-actual F! I haven't read the whole thread but bottom line is this woman at work has got some nerve putting a freaking Gollywog on her desk. I can't believe anyone would give you shit on here for being offended -I'm white and I'm offended. Honestly what's the matter with people ! 🙄

Lizzie48 · 04/09/2018 16:14

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.

This is so true. Of course they were racist, it was just considered acceptable then to have such views.

BertrandRussell · 04/09/2018 16:17

"but there are pockets of ignorance in this country"

Yeah. There are a lot of racists in London. Poor things, they just don't understand.......

derxa · 04/09/2018 16:25

Yeah. There are a lot of racists in London. Poor things, they just don't understand....... Grin Quite.

JJXM · 04/09/2018 16:47

I’m white and so have never experienced racism myself. A family member put a meme on Facebook with the tag Share If You Dare which was a picture of a golliwog knocking on a door and saying Can we be let back in yet? My husband and I were appalled - it made us sick and we’re not black people who live with racism every day. DH responded that no there’s no place in a civilised society for racism and bigotry. I just defriended. The relative did not take it down - so even if they were unaware it would cause offence - once they did know, they didn’t care.

So OP I hope your colleague gets an official warning. If I was in your office I’d have backed you all the way.

KissMeBoris · 04/09/2018 16:55

You can't get an official warning for it, unless management could prove it was intended to cause offence.

MagentaRocks · 04/09/2018 16:58

Of course she can get a warning. It isn’t a court of law. Plus the op asked her to remove it and her response was to blu tack it to her desk so yes she knows it is offensive and continues to display it.

BertrandRussell · 04/09/2018 17:01

It is an Englishman's inalienable right to display his ancestral gollywog at his place of work.

ilovesooty · 04/09/2018 17:07

@KissMeBoris - of course you can. The intention makes no difference whatsoever.

Feefeetrixabelle · 04/09/2018 17:15

@bertrandrussell you are quite right there. Every family has their tradition. My family likes to dress as clowns of a Halloween night and hunt racists purge style.. we display their heads in the hunting gallery. Might shove the ancestral gollywogs in their mouths this Christmas for a festive twist. What do you think? 😂😂

And yes @kickmeboris it would be hard for the racist bellend to prove she wasn’t trying to cause offence what with the OP saying excuse me that’s offensive can you take it down and the bellend using blu tax to make sure it stays put.

GladAllOver · 04/09/2018 17:15

You can't get an official warning for it, unless management could prove it was intended to cause offence.
The desks are the property of the company, and they have every right to decide what goes on them. They don't need to prove anything.

It's as clear as day that the item was put on the next desk to cause offence, and the person who put it there should be suitably cautioned as to their future behaviour.

KissMeBoris · 04/09/2018 17:21

But if the item isn't offensive in and of itself ( as opposed to a swastika or ISIS flag) then there's not a lot that can be done.

Hertha · 04/09/2018 17:22

A golliwog is offensive in and of itself.

MyOtherProfile · 04/09/2018 17:22

I think the whole point is that it is offensive in itself, in the same way as a swastika or an Isis flag.

GladAllOver · 04/09/2018 17:23

OP I very much hope that you do decide to stay on here. We all need to stand up to racism in every form, and not hide from it. Stay strong.

Lizzie48 · 04/09/2018 17:24

How many times, @KissMeBoris ? A golliwog is offensive to black people. Why aren't you listening? Or are you just looking to cause offence? Hmm

AllyMcBeagle · 04/09/2018 17:24

You can't get an official warning for it, unless management could prove it was intended to cause offence.

Of course they can. The colleague is making the company liable for a harassment claim by creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment and cannot claim to be innocent as the OP has politely asked her to remove the item. It definitely merits a warning.

ilovesooty · 04/09/2018 17:25

I suspect that displaying a golliwog would be contrary to just about any company's equality and diversity policy.

LemonysSnicket · 04/09/2018 17:25

If she won't listen to an informal chat then She should receive a formal warning from her employer for bringing racist iconography into a place of work

GladAllOver · 04/09/2018 17:27

Boris are you really saying that a golliwog on the desk next to a black person is not offensive?
It sounds like you are agreeing with the racist who put it there.

SenecaFalls · 04/09/2018 17:28

OP I very much hope that you do decide to stay on here. We all need to stand up to racism in every form, and not hide from it. Stay strong.

Yes. Please stay, OP

AllyMcBeagle · 04/09/2018 17:28

But if the item isn't offensive in and of itself ( as opposed to a swastika or ISIS flag) then there's not a lot that can be done.

It is clearly nowadays regarded as objectively offensive, even if it would not have been back in eg the 1950s.

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