scummy mummy - re their white mothers letting them have gollywogs - as i said in my post it was my dh - who is black, who bought it. if he is not offended by it, and sees it as just a toy, who am i to say no dear, you are wrong, as a black man you have a duty to be offended by this rag doll??
also i dont understand 'their white mothers being so unwilling to see racism in situations where many others are clear that it is an issue?' what about my husband? he also doesnt see this big racism is everywhere thing, and since he is black, surely i must take his word for it that he doesnt think its an issue (for him, in his life) and he is not affected by it. - i just asked him now actually has he ever been racially abused since he moved to uk (10 yrs ago), he said no. who am i to tell him, no dear, you MUST have been a victm of racism because you are black - wouldnt that in itself be racist, to assume that he must be a victim?
Hercules - all i can say is racism is not an issue in the life of my family and we just dont encounter it.
happymumof2 - i dont know what to say, i think racism is rare based on my personal experience. we just dont come across it, are we supposed to examine everyone and everything for possible racism? how would we know what to look for? (not said in sarky confrontational tone btw, but typed it comes across a bit narky, which its not meant to!!!) if we did that, we would convince ourselves that we were victims - the postie who doesnt shut my gate, is it cos he doesnt care if mixed race kids get onto the road, or is it cos he had a skinful the night before and is well hung over? the woman in the co-op who looks at us, is she thinking BLACK BLACK BLACK, or is she thinking, cute kids (they are handsome!!) the man down the pub who is drunk and calls you a t**t, is it cos he hates black people, or cos he's a drunken arse? you will interprit everything to have a racial motivation if you choose to.
we have never been racially abused, we have not heard first hand accounts from any of our friends of racial abuse, we have lived in london and now out in the sticks, and it is our first hand experience that the people we come across in our life dont give a rats arse what colour you are.
its only my opinion based on my personal experience, but im not going to create a problem where we as a mixed race family do not see one currently existing. im not going to start putting a racial slant on my every encounter with another human being. it doesnt matter what colour my family is, what matters is that we are decent human beings.
i am truly horrified to hear that there are people out there who are being victimised however, and am on hand with a baseball bat and a whole lot of attitude if you want me to come over and sort them out , or - you could all come live in my village where noone seems to care!