GolliBlog

Tonight’s episode of Campbell Live included a piece on Golliwogs. If you are unfamiliar with the term these are dolls that were popular in the 60s, which are based on racist caricatures of Black people. They seem to have remained popular with some people after this time and have recently made a come back. They featured on tonight’s show as a result of a tweet sent out by the US rapper Big Boi to his 300,000 followers. Big Boi is a Black rap artist who recently performed a New Zealand show. On his way through the international airport he was shocked to see a store selling these items. He expressed his disgust by tweeting: “what the fuck are these” accompanied with a photo of the offending toy. It must’ve felt strange for him to discover racist items from Americas past still being sold in a distant land.

John Campbell says how the dolls are based on images that were once very prevalent in American society. This statement is true however in some ways it detaches that history from current American society by seeing the images as a thing of the past. The images are no longer the same but they have however continued to present themselves in new and mutated forms. Popular American culture is full of examples of the black mammy, the tom, and the coon. There is also an issue of representation around this issue. John Campbell seems to be aware of the issues but the story focuses on the conversation between him and another white man who owns a store selling the dolls. Big Boi’s views are mentioned but he is not on the show. This isn’t really the shows fault as he may be hard to pin down for an interview. However John only quotes a black scholar. No black (or non black) scholars with expertise on the subject offer their perspective.

Big Boi does seem to be genuinely offended by the item, it is a shame that what was reported to be a good trip for him ended with this incident. However this did have some positives as it drew attention to the issue. Big Boi’s star power combined with the power of social media shone a spotlight on the problem. Had he not complained the issue would have remained invisible to many members of society. As a result of Big Boi’s comments the airport store in question has decided to discontinue sales of the toy. When Auckland airport was asked if they had received any other complaints prior to this one they refused to comment so it seems likely others have complained before but were powerless to force a change.

An owner of a Christchurch acquisitions store that is still selling the dolls comes on the show to defend his position. He tries to suggest that selling the dolls is not racist by pointing out that he is a “card carrying lefty” who protested the 1981 Springbok tour. This comment shows how racism operates in many different ways and how easy it is for a person who opposes racism to reaffirm it at the same time often without realizing it. His comment seems to undermine the possibility that his actions are part of a racist ideology by positioning him as someone who is anti-racist. This position allows him to say that people are getting carried away.

He also corrects John Campbell by saying that the Gollywog originated out of a children’s storybook. In the book it was a black garden gnome that people were scared of at first but then got to know. The storeowner reveals this information to support his argument that they aren’t racist. It is as though he believes the story is sympathetic to Black society. However as I have seen in many examples in this course stories that may appear to be positive can still be harmful. I am not familiar with this story but it seems to present a very stereotypical image of a Black person that is strongly influenced by society at the time. Even if the story does have a happy ending it is likely that it denies race issues. The fact that this is a children’s book does not make the image more innocent as children are easily influenced by what they see and the image was constructed by an adult.

The storeowner continues to push the idea that these are nostalgic pieces that are popular with his customers. John Campbell calls him out on this by asking whether it is only white people who buy them and see them in this way, and it seems that this is the case. White people buying these for nostalgia purposes are ignoring the social context that these came out of. They came from a very openly racist time in US society and reflect that. Nostalgic views of history will often eradicate any of the complicated issues. These toys are very offensive to a lot of people including Big Boi because of the stereotypes they represent. They may look cute to some people or provide a sense of comfort but they also represent cultural myths that do not sit very easily with the people who are affected by them.