Many Americans won't know what a Golliwog is - but once they see one, they'll consider it offensive. Golliwogs are cute and cuddly and lovable - and for good reason, many people consider them racist.

White people think of all sorts of racist icons and songs and practices as "cute," and many of them really are cute - but on the other hand, they present a diminutive image of People of Color that, while cute and well-intentioned, is also demeaning.

We have a number of Chinaman threads here at Mudcat. Guests come here to Mudcat regularly after Googling these "Chinaman" songs that they grew up with, and then they post the version of the song that they knew as a child, and they get all nostalgic for these cute songs - and cute they are, and demeaning.

I read a couple of verses from one of those "Chinaman" songs to a group from church, and one white person was offended that I would even read those racist lyrics to friends to demonstrate the racism against Chinese in America. I think he was wrong to condemn me, but I'm not sure he's ever going to speak to me again.

And the Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben and the Black man on the Cream of Wheat box are all icons that we view with love and nostalgia, because they remind us of the Black men and women who served us white people when we were children. And yes, many of them loved us and we loved them, but still we were in a master-servant relationship with them.

Now, we're in a long-awaited period of cleansing, and many parts of our culture and language that might be considered racist, are being destroyed or removed. Many things that are being erased fropm our culture, are thing that we loved and that we consider completely benign.

As for blackface Morris, it's clear that many good people consider it to be racist, while other good people don't. It does seem to be likely to be viewed as demeaning to Black people, even though that may not be its intent.

It's going to be a difficult adjustment.

-Joe-

P.S. Will Kipling survive?