I would like to thank everyone for their support onlast week in sending a message to the Barnes and Noble Bookseller and the PastCards Company that the postcards bearing the racially offensive images of the”mammy” and the “pickaninny children” needed to be removed. I was informed that over five hundredphone calls were made to the bookstore on Tuesday regarding the postcards,which resulted in their immediate removal. As of yet, the public apology thatwas demanded has not been made (just so you know). The fact that the cards aregone from this store, however, is positive proof that if we come together and use our voices to take astand on something, people won’t be able to help but listen.
The thing that still bothers me about this wholesituation is not just the fact that a million-dollar business with stores allover the country would be so insensitive as to sell something like this, but Iam disturbed by many of our (meaning the young African Americans that Iencountered) nonchalant attitudes about something as blatantly racist as theimages depicted on the cards. I came across quite a few people who just didn’tseem to care, and I came across a lot more who didn’t know the significance ofthese images. Some people who I approached remained unmoved even when Iexplained that the images were created to make black people seem less thanhuman and buffoonish.
By dehumanizing our image, it eases the conscience ofa person when they decide to hate us. That was the purpose of the mammy, Sambo,the pickaninny children, and all of the other demeaning depictions used to makefun of us.
It surprised me that a lot of us didn’t even knowthis. This is why those of us that know what these caricatures stand for can’tjust sit idly by. People are calling us “nigger” to our faces and making moneyoff of it. If we just shake our heads and let it go, it will continue toflourish.
Eventhough we came together and got them to remove these offensive cards out ofthis one store, there are still many other businesses making a profit off itemslike these. We need to be more aware and help educate the ones who don’t knowand we also need to use this situation as an example of how we can deal with itwhen we see it. We have to stand for something, because the hate is out there.If we don’t stand up and let it be known that it won’t be tolerated, we can’tsay anything when we get slapped in the face by it.
