this is one of the halloween costumes that was for sale at meijer, target, and walgreens. after getting much shit for it, all three stores have removed it as an option on their websites. meijer spokesperson stated that they "did it after seeing that some people were bothered by it. So we decided to take the high road and pull them". clearly the high road would have been recognizing the insensitivity involved and not selling it in the first place...! it should not take complaints to notice the ignorance here, and those complaints should not be the only reason for these stores to have removed the merchandise. taking the high road would, instead, include investigating reasons why people would be so upset by this costume and recognizing that this is wrong, not that "some people were bothered by it".
let us take a moment to reflect upon this image: an alien in a prison jumpsuit with "illegal immigrant" across the front and, literally, a fucking green card.
so by this, a few ignorant ass hole stereotypes are reiterated:
1 aliens are criminals
2 illegal immigrants are aliens
3 people with green cards are illegal immigrants (and thus aliens, and thus criminals)
3.5 green cards are actually green cards
and what has society told us about criminals? we want nothing to do with them, as they are a threat to our american dream; our ideal lifestyle is compromised by the presence of the dangerous other. this is the image that we have created for immigrants, who, believe it or not, are actually people too, chasing the dream...just like you.
furthermore, what does this say to impressionable children who are susceptible to the implications of each and every image that enters their retina? this is how stereotypes and senseless otherness are created and perpetuated, causing the very oppression that terminal living and working conditions, discrimination and racism, and inhumane immigration laws compose.
mmhmm, this is real; this doll is currently in stores.
again, what are we telling our children--in this case, those age three and older, specifically? that black babies are not people, but monkeys? this dehumanization has been the foundation for several attempts to present non-whites and non-americans as the relatively worthless other.
i mean, why the fuck is the "lil' monkey" hat on the baby doll, and not the monkey???? and why does the doll have to be black????
yes, there are several images in the media that would not be offensive or questionable if the people of color were replaced with white people. however, this is not one of them; i am sure that most people would be bothered if a reflection of them was labeled "little monkey". still--and it saddens me that i must explain this, but after the aor discussion that i had today, it is evident that this is absolutely necessary-- this is even more offensive to black people because, during the jim crow era, a time when overt racism was more prevalent in the us and blacks in most places risked being murdered for simply stepping foot into certain establishments, the term "monkey" was used as a racial slur. thus, no matter how much you may value your free speech and frown upon the notion of political correctness, it is still an issue when society produces images that are reminiscent of such an oppressive time in american history.
No comments:
Post a Comment