Black Sambo in Japan
Over at Debito.org, there is a post today containing an e-mail from a foreigner in Japan who was shocked to find that a Rainforest Cafe in Chiba Prefecture was selling “Little Black Sambo” dolls. After explaining to the staff of the store that “sambo” was racial slur for black people and that the book “Little Black Sambo” was offensive, he succeeded in getting the dolls removed from the store’s shelves.
I found the fact that the store removed the dolls to be rather surprising, given the popularity of “Little Black Sambo” in Japan. I would guess that Sambo goods are being sold at hundreds of stores throughout Japan, and the children’s picture book is available at almost any bookstore of significant size. Here are a few examples of Sambo merchandise that can be found on major online stores such as Rakuten and in shops such as Village Vanguard:
Grow your own palm tree, just like the ones Sambo likes to sit under!
Demonstrate your love for Sambo with a cell phone strap!
Shield your cell phone screen with this reflective Sambo cover (the person sitting next to you on the train won’t be able to read your mails, but they will know you’re a Sambo fan).
Put Sambo’s black face on your back with one of these buttons!
If one were to tell the average Japanese person that “sambo” was a racial slur similar to “nigger” and that the book “Little Black Sambo” was an offensive book full of racially insensitive imagery, one would probably be met with a response of surprise or confusion. To many Sambo is just a cute little character in a cute children’s book, and it is hard to understand what could be so offensive about it. When a new edition of the book was printed several years ago, Metropolis had an article mentioning Japanese views of the book:
In the June edition of Bungei Shunju, Zuiunsha’s Tomio Inoue takes the whole “racist vs. insensitive” discussion to a new level, saying that it’s OK to reprint the story since “in the world today, there aren’t feelings of discrimination toward black people because we see them active in many areas and having a positive impact on many people… I think we need to have more faith in the children of Japan.”
Inoue claims that Sambo was a common name in northern India meaning “excellent,” and he describes Dobias’ golliwog-like depictions of the supposedly Indian child as a “bold use of color.” In the US, where the book is also in print and has been a regular bestseller, illustrator Fred Marcellino apparently solved the debate with The Story of Little Babaji, in which he changed the names of the characters to Babaji, Mamaji and Papaji. But the Japanese version keeps the original names and illustrations. And while an online petition protesting the Japanese reprint has sprung up, it has only garnered a few hundred signatures, many from abroad.
In a country where the black population remains small, it seems that many Japanese don’t care that sambo is considered to be as offensive as “darky” or “pickaninny.” In the two months since it was published, Chibikuro Sambo has already reportedly sold over 100,000 copies.
Time Magazine also ran a story back in 2001 about the Sambo/Japan issue:
Americans, of course, have produced their own unflattering images of the Japanese over the years — from the malevolent figures depicted on World War II posters to more benign, but not necessarily inoffensive, postwar depictions. “If there were yellow dolls in the U.S. with buck teeth, narrow slanted eyes and called Jap, of course the Japanese would be angry,” says Kaname Saruya, who teaches American history at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University. “They’re doing the same thing here with Sambo, but they don’t realize it. Japanese are obtuse.” Obtuse or not, that is little consolation for American blacks: having made progress, however limited, against bigotry at home, they are appalled to find a troubling reflection abroad.
The Time Magazine article raised an interesting point about how Japanese would probably be offended by racist “Jap” cartoons, and Debito.org has been trying to test this theory with a parody version of “Little Black Sambo” called “Little Yellow Jap”:
The full parody book, which is full of racist images of Japanese similar to the images of blacks in the Sambo book, can be viewed here. On it’s last page it explains that it is a parody and has a message for Japanese readers:
“The words ‘JAP’ and ‘SAMBO’ are comparable words, and discriminatory langauge. Let’s refrain from words which encourage this kind of discrimination. ‘Chibi Kuro Sanbo’ as a book is unsuitable for a multiculturalizing Japanese society.
The message is a good one, but I’m not sure if those who see the parody comic will fully understand how many foreigners see the images and content of “Little Black Sambo” as similarly offensive. As much as I dislike “Little Black Sambo” and want to see it disappear, I doubt that it will any time soon.
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What I don’t get about this issue is that is never seems to mention the fact that the title character is a good role model: he is quick-witted and brave and outwits the tigers by turning them into butter. The book certainly reflects attitudes of the time, in terms of majority British knowledge/awareness of “black issues” and such, but it itself does not appear to be racist in intent.
I’m trying to imagine how exactly he turns them into butter… Funny image.
If what you say about the background story is true, I’m still troubled by the fact that such a racist caricature is being sold as a novelty item – especially in a country whose media/entertainment industry often represent blacks as dull-witted or as minstrels. Yes, there are plenty of exceptions (Billy Blanks probably being one of the more recent), but the fact that such blatant racism still exists and is shown to be accepted in many forms of media puts these items in a more problematic light in my opinion. But that’s just my opinion on the matter and I’m certainly open to rebuttals.
Oh, and one last thing: whether or not these items are actually “racist in intent” doesn’t mean that they can’t be racist at all. “The Birth of a Nation” was never intended to be a racist film according to its director, D.W. Griffith, but the fact remains that it is one of the most racist films ever created in the history of film. A technologically astounding film, yes, but its portrayal of evil and greedy blacks defeated by the heroic Ku Klux Klan is equally astounding.
Leaving aside Birth Of A Nation, which I have not seen, the question of intent is of some importance in this discussion. For example, Huck Finn is banned and considered racist by some for its use of the word “nigger” for “Nigger Jim,” despite the fact that it (and its protagonist, Huck) treat him with nothing but respect (in fact Huck is willing to go to hell to save him).
Racism has two sides: the intent to cause offence, and the offence felt. Speech intended to cause offence is obviously not something that should be encouraged on its own merits. It was supposed to be nasty at the time. Speech that was acceptable at the time and is now deemed unacceptable is a tricky issue. Who decides what is offensive and what is not?
There is also the possibility of the argument that since there are so few blacks in Japan that the harm done is less, there being fewer people to be offended by it. I am not necessarily advancing that argument myself, but it does fit in with the need for “people to be offended” part of the previous paragraph.
Mont: Little Black Sambo is available on the web in its original illustrated UK edition:
http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/sambo.htm
The illustrations (and the text) make it clear that despite the African-sounding (Swahili, in the case of Jumbo) names, LBS is Indian.
Thanks for the link, Overthinker. While I admit I’m still not 100% up-to-date with this character’s history, I think many of these problems could be avoided if the company making all of these products (not the books, the newer products) had gotten the skin tone right – let alone the character design. Whether or not this “color mistake” should itself be read into further is something I’ll set aside for others to debate.
Now I agree with you on your point that when it comes to racism, there are many gray areas that are tricky to address and that the issue of “who decides what is offensive and what is not” is also an important issue because there are certainly people out there who tend to overreact to EVERY little thing (I almost always find myself arguing against these people). However, I also believe that there are instances that are much more clean-cut, that would offend even the most sensible members of the target group, and I personally believe that these products fall into this category as they portray a black caricature that has been denounced as “racist” for decades. Again, I’m not talking about the original illustrations, but the novelty products that are being sold in Japan.
I will also admit that I am not fully aware of how popular these stories may be in Japan, but I would not be surprised in the least if many people who were sporting “Little Black Sambo” phone straps and buttons were doing so because they thought they looked cool and ended up having absolutely no understanding of the meaning (cue: all clothing products containing English text). But let’s assume for the sake of argument that everyone buying these products is very familiar with the original story: They would still be promoting the old image of the pitch-black-faced, red-lipped man from Africa whether they were aware of it or not. Basically these products have done the equivalent of taking the word “n*gger,” putting it on a phone strap using cute, pink, bubble lettering with a heart over the “i” and sticking a pitch-black Hello Kitty at the end. It’s cute, it’s referencing a beloved character, but it’s still racist as hell.
This finally brings me to the issues of intent and Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer is an amazing book that I believe should still be among many required school readings. While it DOES unfortunately use certain terms that were more accepted at the time like you said, such an issue should be (and almost always is) addressed in the classroom so that young readers don’t misinterpret the author’s intent. However, the racism is all presented within a very specific context (within the book) whereas the “Little Black Sambo” novelty items are not because the original illustrations you presented do not possess this particular racist issue to begin with (Sambo being Indian in the stories). What we DO have are products that are presenting the general public with the iconic black minstrel wearing a loincloth while encouraging them to promote said image by popularizing it as another cute character. The difference between Tom Sawyer and Little Black Sambo here is that Tom Sawyer is not being promoted with trinkets depicting its racism. Just imagine the Sambo products except replace the words “Little Black Sambo” and the tigers with “N*gger Jim” and a raft and see if that’d fly with the public.
Anyway, I’ll admit again that I’m not 100% up-to-date with this issue and I’m sure there are some logical errors somewhere in the above text, so I’d be more than happy to hear any more well-mannered criticisms or rebuttals.
[And before anyone says it, I am aware that the term "n*gger Jim" never appears in Tom Sawyer and that it's actually "Jim the n*gger," so let's put that one to rest early.]
(Actually it’s Huck Finn not Tom Sawyer, and I’ve just done a check: “Jim the Nigger” is not used, “the nigger Jim” appears once, but otherwise it’s not connected, and he is never referred to as “Nigger Jim” in terms of a name.)
I wasn’t actually referring to using Huck Finn in schools (though that is certainly one area of controversy). Certainly it can be put into context there. But I was thinking of just going to a library and reading it, like I did. However you do raise an interesting point, that of context. In Japan these images simply have no context, either good or bad. The Japanese are aware enough of the stereotype of Africans-big lips (just like “Europeans=big noses) to recognise them as African, but are such stereotypes necessarily racist? They play up phenotypical stereotypes definitely, for the sake of easy identification, but I think racism has a more political intent than just cartoonish representation. There is usually a negative prejudice in there as well – in this case, for example, “big lips=bad/ugly”. If the Japanese see LBS as ugly or in some ways a figure of fun due to his appearance, then we have a problem, but he sells because he’s cute, no? In other words, his African features become a positive aspect of the character.
To look at the problem from another angle, how should a cartoonish doll of an African be portrayed?
Haha! You’re absolutely right! I got so wrapped around that damned long post of mine that I started mixing up Mark Twain titles! All that typing and I still feel stupid
As for the “Jim the nigger” vs. “the nigger Jim,” I’ll have to take a look again, perhaps my memory is failing me all at once? (Side note: I’m leaving out the “*” censor now because I see now that there is no special word filter on this site. Also, I think it’s rather childish to cover up one or two letters of a word with symbols like “@,” “&” and “#” when the reader still knows exactly what that word is.)
Now in regard to the later half of your post, I don’t think we can really arrive at a definite conclusion, but here are my thoughts. It’s certainly possible for a group of people to culturally re-appropriate a word or image to suit their own (and often opposite) views, and it’s been done numerous times before with varying degrees of success. However, I think when it comes to racially-charged words and imagery, the job becomes significantly more difficult. Case in point(coincidentally): swapping the word “nigger” with “nigga” in an attempt to subvert the hateful meaning of the former. Now that it has worked itself so thoroughly into the U.S. popular culture and produced more tangible results, the ultimate success of this movement is now debatable. There are legitimate and reasonable arguments on both sides of the issue, but for the purpose of our Little Black Sambo discussion, I’m just going to mention one of the opposing views. Essentially, a number of people are saying that though the subverted term is not (as) offensive to blacks, it is still mimicking the original term very, very closely and because of this, the original term essentially receives significantly more exposure leads some to become more comfortable using it in its original context. Again, this is debatable, but I feel it applies to the Little Black Sambo products. It may be true that Little Black Sambo is intelligent and the character is good and his design does make him kinda cute, but there’s no denying that he’s shown as a well-known racist stereotype and no matter how positive a spin you give him, he will still hearken back to that meaning. Now, if everyone could accept this new spin and somehow lay waste to the old meaning, then I think we could have success. Cultural re-appropriation of this magnitude HAS happened before and will happen again, but when it comes to racially-charged terms and imagery, there is just so much underlying baggage that many will have a very hard time accepting an apple as anything other than an apple.
Lastly, you asked whether all stereotypes are racist and whether or not some degree of stereotyping is necessary for easy cultural identification (especially in this situation). This is a massive can of worms that I don’t think we can or should try to effectively debate on this website as there is simply too much to handle all at once. However, I will agree with you in the belief that SOME degree of stereotyping is necessary when making any sort of caricature (such is the nature of a caricature), but even then there are limits and one should tread delicately as the stereotypes start to add up. In the case of these Little Black Sambo trinkets this is not what happened as the designers went all-out with the stereotypes. This could have easily been avoided had they simply eliminated or toned down a few features such as lighter skin instead of the “jungle savage” pitch-black, gotten rid of the bright red minstrel lips, etc. Hell, I remember the post here on Japan Probe about two weeks ago featuring the year’s major news events in doll form and there was a Billy Blanks doll that was perfectly fine. It was obviously Blanks, kinda cute, and didn’t have to use stereotypes as a visual crutch.
Anyway, I’ve rambled on this thread for more than my share, so I think I’ll take a break for a while and let the servers recover. Very interesting issue, this one…
BTW, thanks for your detailed and thoughtful reply. If I haven’t replied, it’s because I generally don’t have anything to add: you said it all very nicely. The difference between stereotype as identification and stereotype as racism is certainly interesting, but I agree, it’s probably not suited for this thread.
I think the bookstores should remove the little sambo for the reason that it might create the stereotype.
But to me the reason the Japanese are insensitive to the character is explainable.
The Japanese think of “Sanbo” as his name just like Tom, James etc, not as an offensive word equivalent to “Japs”
The Japanese tend to take it as a story that a cute African little boy outwits the tiger.
The most Japanese do not associate his eyes and mouth with the stereotypical image of African people as some western people seem to do, though a long nose is a stereotype of Gaijin for the Japanese. African people are such super minority in Japan that Japan hasn’t formed the same stereotype as western countries.
“Chibi(little)-maru(round)ko(kid) is the name for the popular anime character and kuro(black)-chan is the name of an Japanese entertainer whose skin color is dark. Thus the name “little black Sambo” does not sound so much as to be offensive.
And probably the Japanese retailers are relatively insensitive to the race provoking book;they even import the book from Korea that has the offensive picutes and content of the Japanese and sell it at the book stores.
Mammy in “Gone With The Wind” was also a “good character.” As was Uncle Remus, Amos and Andy, and every Black servant or slave who danced alongside Shirley Temple.
Understand?
RACIST IN INTENT ????? (I’m hyperventilating I’m so disgusted)!!! Are you completely insane!? As an African American woman in America this is not acceptable by any means! Yes, write a story about a witty-brave child of color… but why do we have to name him something so hurtful!? People like myself are forced everyday to deal with the racist stereotypes characters like this endorse! Sambo represents the most demeaning of all black stereotypes as it portrays not an innocent child, but an unreliable, subservient, illiterate, lazy, subhuman creature. Equal to an animal and undeserving of respect!! I loathe the attempt you’ve made to downplay something this inexcusable and blatantly distasteful!
The book was written before Sambo became associated with politically-incorrect insulting concepts. 1899 was a long time ago.
surely the problem here is that they are using the american version of the book here, with the sambo title. the original british version used a young indian boy, not african and in that case, I guess you could have a debate over how offensive the word is.
but picking the american version along with sambo is clearly inflammatory for some, and I think it’s fair enough that people should raise the issue.
nevertheless, check out debito’s response as a way *not* to solve an issue. “you have offended me, so let me offend you even more.” – when does this kind of approach ever, ever work? what happened to taking the higher ground? debito’s comic is just plain embarassing.
as for “Little Yellow Jap” ,I think most Japanese does not care….
Agreed entirely – but it is not just Debito’s lame comic that is embarassing – it is his entire mentality. That boy’s got serious issues.
“That boy’s got serious issues.”
What I find strange is that he puts them up on his website for all to see. It’s all there – from admitting he almost never reads Japanese for pleasure to telling the world he is going to quit his job as they don’t agree with him about what “academic freedom” means. Everything from getting angry with some clerk to being estranged from his own parents….
“nevertheless, check out debito’s response as a way *not* to solve an issue. “you have offended me, so let me offend you even more.” – when does this kind of approach ever, ever work? what happened to taking the higher ground? debito’s comic is just plain embarassing.”
I agree. That’s just as doinky as when he linked to that “No Olympics for Japan” page.
As for the issue at hand, I agree with Ponta in that America and Japan do not share the same history in regards to black people. For many Americans, such imagery is offensive because it is linked to the many acts of racism against black people in the past (segregation, lynchings, etc), while Japan does not have this same view because they didn’t have that history of persecution of black people.
Though it’s worth noting that there are some groups in Japan (such as Kokujin Sabetsu o Nakusu Kai http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BB%92%E4%BA%BA%E5%B7%AE%E5%88%A5%E3%82%92%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%99%E4%BC%9A)
that understand the offensiveness. Little Black Sambo has only been reprinted relatively recently (it was out of print for several years).
When will it ever end. (-.-;)
what a bs, as always is this debileto.
it seems ok its not racist man
Just curious.
If it is “Little black Tom” or “Little black Charley” or “Little black Brad” etc…The book has no problem?
I think it’s no problem if debito’s racist book “Little yellow Jap” is “Little yellow Taro” with lovely illustrations like the Little black Sambo.
(Debito’s illustrations are just full of hatred)
That is what I am curious about too.
I am also curious about whether the illustrations of LBS look as ugly as the Debito’s Little Yellow Jap in Westerner’s eye.
As for Debito’s illustration, it doesn’t offend me at all because it doesn’t look like the japanese, but it makes me think that this guy is a fake human right activist motivated by his personal hatred.
Nah, he’s motivated by a craving to have other people look at him. He doesn’t seem to particularly care whether they look at him with revulsion or adoration, as long as they are looking at him. By his own admission (I have met him – and yes, I washed my hands afterwards) he likes stirring up hornet’s nests and watching the results. So in that sense, yes he is a fake human rights activist, as he only cares about his right to be an ass.
He is also completely oblivious to the fact that any “discrimination” that occurs in his presence is less because he is “foreign” and much more because people simply can’t stand him.
“SOMEHOW I ALWAYS GET THESE PEOPLE SERVING ME. I GUESS IT’S JUST MY FATE.”
“Said they, “This has never happened to any of us before at a hotel in Japan. Why does this keep happening to you?”"
(from his bit on Toyoko inns).
Why indeed?
I was once asked for my passport at the New Hankyu in Osaka, despite writing down a Japanese address (in Japanese). So when they nervously showed me the letter of the law, I merely pointed out the bit where it said “does not have an address in Japan” and then pointed out my address in Japan, and that was an end of it. One other place asked me when I checked in, and I said no, I live in Japan, and they were fine with that. Both places were frequented by foreign tourists, so were probably operating on automatic.
As for his illustration with monkeys, probably that’s his image of the Japanese
Heh!
I think that as usual with accusations of Japanese mass racism, whether ignorance is a form of racism or not is a key issue.
I don’t have any major issues with the existence of these products, or even with Rats and Star. When I’m confronted with it, I usually feel like it’s kind of quaint…
But also, I’m reasonably aware of the issues and history that surround the “golliwog” style imagery, and I think that anyone that makes a decision that associates them with that imagery should be aware of the background, too.
Especially with the current level of knowledge-enabling technology, you deserve any criticism coming to you if you decide you enjoy Sambo purely based on reading this book.
I’ll also add that I think the existence of the book here is a potential enabler of discussion and awareness about racism, if say, anyone who chooses to buy the book or products decides to further research the character.
What bores me about the way this imagery occurs in Japan is the lack of audacity required to associate oneself with it.
“What bores me about the way this imagery occurs in Japan is the lack of audacity required to associate oneself with it.”
Actually, I consider that a good thing. Aside from the Zainichi, you don’t have masses of people searching out ways to be “offended”. Folks here are able to see a caricature for what it is, and keep that separate from reality.
Many Japanese are insensitive of other races. They dislike gaijin and look down on them too. If they knew the history of “black-face” maybe they would stop this kind of thing.
And you don’t notice you are stereotyping Japanese and looking down on them too.
Not really. I said many, not all.
Doesn’t suprise me. I’ve always known that blacks were viewed as the sambo stereotype overseas. And, as usual, they don’t ‘get’ why other races/ethnicities should be offended, even when they get discriminated against themselves, in the same manner. In their eyes, 2+2=4 isn’t the same as 1+1+1+1=4.
I don’t know if it’s stupidity, insensitivity, mental laziness or just plain racist, period. Heck, maybe all of the above.
As a black man, i didn’t find the story to be offensive. A little unbelievable, but not offensive. I don’t care that it’s popular with the Japanese, I just hope they know where to draw the line.
There is some kind of big, two level dollar store in Shibuya I went to that had a black person “big lipu” rubber mask. I was surprised looking at it just hanging there on the wall. I wanted to calmly explain to the clerks how wrong it was but knew how futile that would be.
I have seen a huge “Chinaman mask” in the states too.
Sounds hilarious.
Haha, I used to read that book all the time! It was one of my favorites when I was a kid.
Anyway, it -is- racially insensitive, and it seems obvious to westerners, but the average Japanese peson have probably never learned that the gollywog imagery is offensive to black people. The majority probably just think that Sambo is a cute character, and don’t think at all about race or cultural insensitivity.
I don’t agree with Debito.org’s “Little Yellow Jap” thing at ALL though. They’re trying to educate Japanese people who like Sambo the wrong way — by being extremely inflammatory. Not that I expected any more from Debito *eyeroll*, but still. If people truly wants Japanese people to understand -why- Sambo is insulting to black people, they should explain it in a historical context first, starting all the way back from the triangular trade.
What Inoue said is really, really stupid, though.
About a year ago Uniqlo was selling Sambo shirts in their Shanghai stores. I remember thinking how it would suck to go to the US wearing that if you were unaware of the reactions it would provoke. Most Chinese people would have no idea about that. Heck, they even think “yellow-face” is funny, because they’ve never had the experience of being a picked-on minority.
Here are a couple images of Africans from a Chinese cartoon called something like “The Brave Little Girls and the Crocodile.” I’d say they are pretty cute. Interestingly, their clothing looks like Chinese minority people’s:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58285552@N00/368008706/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58285552@N00/368006252/
Very incensitive must be change. Please come up with someting else. Could be replaced with animals. I dont think anyone will object to that.
you can get this book in the US, check amazon
I think people are too concerned about political correctness and are blind to true racism
because they do not wish to confront true racism they then get obsessed with the trappings of racism
there is nothing hurtful about this book
and Sambo is an indian (from india) not an african…
I think people are too concerned about political correctness and are blind to true racism
because they do not wish to confront true racism they then get obsessed with the trappings of racism
It’s not about being PC, at all; it’s about being offensive. And, as a Black woman, I find this book to be very offensive. It doesn’t matter if Sambo was supposed to represent an Indian boy; the imagery used is typical among those created to stereotype and mock Blacks. Also, what the hell is “true racism”? (And if you have to quote from a dictionary, then you’ve never lived it.)
If you are offended by a character in a book, that’s your fault. You really need to lighten up.
welp..i saw a lot of good dialogue and was kind of thrown by some comments, yet i had to speak my peace. as a descendant of a displace african seeing these images do hurt. its the same reason why many black americans wont buy mrs. butterworth, b/c of the mammy bottle it comes in, or why we hate when SOUL PLANE comes on BET, the imagery. I surely remember the uproar when the little japanese man would appear on I SPY, OR UNDERDOG and they of course dissapeared post haste. but it reaffirms that people of black color are the lowest creature on the totem pole, simply because people dont give a d*%$# when we say certain images are hurtful.
doesnt matter if the words were cute/nice/happy, the IMAGES HURT. How can i tell my 6 yr old that she too will look like the woman in tom and jerry, BIG BLACK/FAT ANKLES/SCARF AROUND HER HEAD/AND LOUD AND BOISTEROUS? Why should be characterized by default? I find it type hilarious that we are the only people on God’s green earth that people just cannot leave the hell alone. If we say something isnt appropriate it isnt appropriate bottom line. no if’s ands or buts about it
I find this article ironic; are the Japanese really being disrespectful of Blacks? They may not be aware of the racial connotations of Little Black Sambo: if I were not very familiar with Black people, I might assume LBS to be a funny animal of sorts as it doesn’t really look like a human being. The Japanese store owner removed them when he learned some people were offended, his intent wasn’t to offend. How do the Japanese react to racist caricatures of themselves? Oddly enough I’ve heard both groups refer to the other in similarly insulting manner; “monkeys.”
I understand why some people can be offended by this story. I’ve read the historical background of the story. HOWEVER I have to say that this is a story that were loved by many Japanese children. Many Japanese people don’t know about offensiveness regarding to the story. In fact, the story was never told to me, giving an impression of “mocking black people” when I was a child. I believe there are much more terrible and cruel racial discriminations out there in the world that need to be eliminated than a cute little story for kids. Pride and moral should not be mixed up.
Well, I think it wouldn’t be consitered ‘racist’ if they didn’t address him as ‘a little black boy.’
Did Debito.org have permission to put the scan of the picture book on its web site? I think it has almost every page there. Think of publisher`s right it`s violating.
And frankly, the site should`ve hire a artist to do the Little Yellow Jap. It doesn`t even much the Little Black Sambo.
I wonder, if a word become a racial slur later, should a creative writing be destroyed?