Cynics Unlimited

(it’s still black history month and not all of it is necessarily positive … or history for that matter)

1867 – The Music-Loving Simpletons (Harpers Weekly)

Two ignorant, music-lovin Negroes speaking a nearly indecipherable dialect. Harmless and lovable (except around your daughter). This image was adapted for later media productions like Disney’s “Song of the South”.

Early 20th Century – The Golliwog

Inspired by a childhood minstrel rag doll, author Florence Kate Upton created the fictional character Golliwog. In her words, Golliwog was “a horrid sight, the blackest gnome”. Golli would later have his name and image attributed to jams, cigarettes, perfume, jewelry and badges portraying the playing of jazz music. Golli generally had positive interactions with the people around him, but damned if he didn’t look spooky. Most manufacturers that once used the Golliwog image have since changed it or deny any racial implications.

2008 – The Africentric Teacher (via Globe and Mail)

Cute – look at that African guy wearing a tie. Using his “hip” street savvy he’s going to put y-y-you on the fast path to counting dem crack rocks even faster. Out the way before he bisects that angle, biiiotch!

*cough*

We can let the full-time activists take care of the protests – I’ll be content to point out the “Mop and Pail” has probably done more to boost the Africentric schooling cause than any of its strongest activists ever could. Reducing black teachers to a crude hip-hop stereotype is only going to heighten suspicion and distrust among the many blacks sitting on the fence about this issue. If the alternative to Africentric schooling is in fact sending black kids to a bunch of white adults with the mindset of this cartoonist … well then quite a few children will be learning their math by counting pieces of Kinte cloth.

Most affected by this small-minded attack will be that small number of non-blacks who are opposing these schools on non-malicious grounds. Trustee Josh Matlow falls in this category, as does my colleague Sandy at Crux of the Matter. It’s going to be extremely hard for either of them to make a reasonable argument against race-based schooling without those points inevitably being lumped in with this garbage.

Even the National Post seemed above taking this type of shot.

Other Comments:

“I will make sure that they get to the right people. I don’t know who drew this cartoon. If it was an African, that makes it sadder than ever. But more importantly, we have to make sure our children know their history and know that we have a lot more going for us than ‘Sup Dog. Ridiculous! And don’t talk to me about having a sense of humour. When it comes to putting Black people down and trying to make us look stupid, the history is just too fresh.”
-Nicole Osbourne James @ AfroToronto

“This issue is not at all similar to the ‘ebonics’ debate sparked in the U.S. Instead, supporters of “Black schools” are attempting to address real educational issues, some of which are akin to those found in gender-based schools. Whether or not “Black schools” are the answer, this debate deserves the respect of thoughtful discussion; not glib, insensitive and dare I say racist commentary.”
-Jason Robinson @ aka Activist