To worry most people won’t ever ‘get it’

[OverTheRainbow88]

All the marches, Protests etc and people still don’t seem to understand!

Will they ever?

There's so many different versions of it. How can it possibly be racist?

We have these books, I love them, but this was so poorly thought out. I think there's too little evidence to accuse the author of racism but definitely ignorance and stupidity.

@Monsterjam yes in one version the black mermaid does have the plastic clip and in another book her tail is too scaly.

The fact that this goes straight over peoples heads is really worrying.

This has really pissed me off today. The police defence is that they initially thought the car was registered to Yorkshire but driving around London.

What, so black people aren't allowed to travel away from their home area now? When did that shit come about?

Would a white person from Yorkshire be stopped if they drove about in London? The fuck they would.

Another DWB (driving whilst black).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53713312

Does the book also feature the line here hair is too fluffy?’ Is it still on sale?

Which of the following scenarios do we think happened?

a) book author / illustrator / publisher thinks that BAME people have horrible, undesirable hair, and that this was a good opportunity to to share their opinion, and make BAME people feel shit.

or

b) book author / illustrator / publisher looks for half a dozen characteristics of a mermaid that can be described in terms of texture, to fit in with a touch-feel book. Mermaid illustrations differ in skin tone, and by coincide the mermaid whose hair is described happens to look a bit darker than some of the others.

Great.... maybe take the stereotype out and the books will be much better for young people having them read to them

I dont get it either. The original book is a blonde mermaid whos hair is also too fluffy. Surely they were trying to be inclusive. And its not used as an insult.

[quote PicsInRed]This has really pissed me off today. The police defence is that they initially thought the car was registered to Yorkshire but driving around London.

What, so black people aren't allowed to travel away from their home area now? When did that shit come about?

Would a white person from Yorkshire be stopped if they drove about in London? The fuck they would.

Another DWB (driving whilst black).

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53713312[/quote]
Agree, but wrong thread about racism in the UK!

@PicsInRed I don't find the book offensive at all and I'm also not racist. I'm Jamaican. 😁

Awful how offensive and hurtful ffs.

@TheGoldenChild

There's so many different versions of it. How can it possibly be racist?

I think the issue is that too my knowledge, none of the ones featuring humanist characters (mermaids, babies etc) have picked a physical characteristic that typifies a particular race or culture. So the skinny spotted dinosaur, the fluffy dog, the shimmery dragon don't matter because there's no one with those characteristics who might be offended.

So the black mermaid who's hair is too fluffy is going to come across as slating black girls

Oh I see the professionally offended are out in force again today There isn’t an issue here; people are making a mountain out of a molehill.

Tesco have only apologised because they felt forced into doing so; they shouldn’t have.

So the black mermaid who's hair is too fluffy is going to come across as slating black girls

But genuine question, the same book with the same words is available with the front page mermaid being different. The first one features a blonde mermaid whos hair is too fluffy so why is that ok but now the books has expanded to feature a black hair mermaid its offensive even though its the exact same words?

It just happened they chose the mermaid to have fluffy hair, its a huge series and there's something about each of them, it teaches textures etc to kids.

I have fluffy hair and I’m white. If it was a white mermaid should I be offended?

God I saw this shared on Facebook and 99.9% of the comments were people saying thing's like "why is it racist? " /"it's PC gawd maaaad" /"snowflakes looking to be offended". So depressing.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/08/hair-discrimination-racism-california-ban

This article may help some of you understand... Hopefully 🤞🏾

@TheGoldenChild

There's so many different versions of it. How can it possibly be racist?

Because school girls have been repeatedly punished for having their hair natural and also for having their hair in protective styles (and are statistically disproportionately targeted for discipline in school). Can't win.

Because of the history of racist categorisation of people.

Because white people still pat and touch black hair without permission and comment on it.

Because there isn't enough diverse representation in books and how heartbreaking must it be for young black kid to find this book then "oh" realise.

Because I think we all know that if even one black person was involved in that project this wouldn't have happened, which underscores inequality even further.

Oh seriously, people are just pathetic !

I get it. The bit I’m confused about is why Tesco are the only ones in trouble. I presume the book has been out for a while, did that get attention for being offensive? Or just the Tesco T-shirt?

That article makes very valid points about black people being discriminated against dueto their hairstyles. It doesnt explain the fluffy thing or how its acceptable on the white mermaid and the fact the books have multiple forms with mermaids of different races having different atributes that are not classified as negative.

@RyanBergarasTeeth

I dont get it either. The original book is a blonde mermaid whos hair is also too fluffy. Surely they were trying to be inclusive. And its not used as an insult.

If just one black person saw this before it went live, it would have been stopped dead. The fact that no one stopped this means that no black person was in the production process from start to finish.

That underscores inequality succinctly.