Visiting the family this holiday season, I was mortified to see a recently purchased pair of serving spoons with this on their handles (sorry for the shitty cell phone pic, but you get the idea):
A family member responded to my strongly concerned, “Ummmm..?” by noting that the spoons were bought at an African imports store, the implication being that they were made by genuine Africans and therefore OK/not racist. Only, I’m pretty sure these spoons are not OK for my very white (though also traditionally, you know, not racist) family to be using. What say you, Slog?
Come on, man, it’s slog. EVERYTHING is capable of offending someone. Even a kitty.
Racist, hell, they’re uglier than shit. Isn’t that enough?
that is not OK. call the police.
I would be more concerned about the fact that they are ugly. What would possess someone to buy something that ugly in the first place? Who looks at that and says “I just have to have it!”
Would you feel better if those handles got a perm like Aunt Jemima?
would you prefer that the african ladies in question make spoons that look like goofy white ladies?
they are ugly as hell but I’m not seeing racism…
Is it an Aunt Jemima – like head? I thought it was some weirdo flower. But with a lightbulb screw attaching it to the spoon? What? It’s pretty ugly, get rid of them immediately for that reason if nothing else!
yah, these are too WTF to be racist.
It reinforces the tenacious stereotype that African women walk around on cutlery instead of regular legs.
Down in Mexico they’ve got all these hand-made clay dudes that they fasten on to shot glasses and crap. They’re either passed out drunk or they’ve got their ass hanging out of their pants or they’re doing “it”. That’s kinda the same ugly ass crap as these spoons.
I don’t think it’s racist, but certainly hideous.
If they were white, would they still be rascist?
How about Asian? Since they aren’t demeaning to anybody, just depictions, I don’t see rascist. But maybe you are a little too sensitive, which isn’t a bad thing.
I am sorry that your family seems to consist mainly of retards, Grandy.
And what do taste-free serving spoons in African homes look like? (And we haven’t even mentioned the sexist thing – can’t men lift a little lettuce for a change? Truly, of tableware vexations there is no end…)
I can’t tell what they are.
What with the caganer thing the other day, seems like Racist or Not is a new Slog theme.
I didn’t even notice the spoon was black. Racist.
It’s been a really long time since a Slog comment made me laugh for 2 minutes straight, but #9 did it. Mission Accomplished!
Amusingly, I bought my sister and brother-in-law (she’s mostly Caucasian, he’s Hispanic) a set of nice coasters from Kenya (fair trade, natch) as a Christmas present.
Beauty and utility are in the eye of the beholder.
@18, “amusingly” doesn’t actually mean what you appear to think it means.
I had thought Will in Santa Barbara might be Will in Seattle on vacation. Now I am sure it is so….
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I believe this is called Negrobilia.
And yes there are collectors that specialize in it.
Hey, Will! I got some pajamas for Christmas, but they were too large! Top that! Or this — I had some library books out, but I returned them in time to avoid a fine! Ha hah, fucking dynamite, isn’t it?
Wow, is it racist? I feel Bamboozled.
Don’t click the link on comment 21. Major browser takeover.
This appears to be some kind of progressive parlor game: “is exhibit A racist / not racist?” See also: Erica’s earlier pajayma post.
They’re wrong on many levels, and butt-ugly into the bargain.
I have some chopsticks that I bought at Uwajimaya that have these little sleeves that you put them in to lay them alongside the sushi plates. They are geishas wearing kimonos … everyone who’s ever come over for sushi at my house thinks they are adorable. Are we racists?
@23. Now that was amusingly.
Yall Stranger writers have not posted enough hand-wringing white-guilt posts this week. Post at least ten more posts about your white-guilty conscience wondering if something is “racist” by the end of the week or you are a RACIST!
Oh yeah, in the time you read this, a whole bunch of black men murdered a whole bunch of other black men in the USA. 93% of all blacks murdered in the USA are murdered by other blacks.
Don’t click on the link @30.
@30
Golly, you got us GOOD! We are but foils to your ingenious mind games. Victory is yours! You win! Yes!
What are you going to do next, now that you are the winner?
Ugly but not racist.
I think in order to be racist they would have to either say something insulting about African folks, and/or reinforce an existing stereotype. It’s certainly a caricature of an African woman, but executed in a relatively friendly fashion, not cruel or offensive.
Sometimes a spoon is a spoon is a spoon.
— Gertrude Beer Stein
@23 – but were your PJs from Kenya? or Africa?
Stereotypes exist only in the mind’s eye, unless you’re using daguerreotype to view them.
If they had pointed at the spoon and said “Look at the niggah spoons I got!” or “these spoons remind me of the good old days…”- then yeah, that shit is racist.
Mostly the spoon is just so ugly it makes one wonder what goes on in the mind of a person who bought them.
I have a kick-ass cookie jar shaped as a fat black woman with thick goregous red lips and nappy hair posing as if she is singing her heart out. It is a thing of beauty.
The woman in the shop I bought it from said white people always asked if it is offensive to blacks. We both thought it sweet of them to ask.
The likelihood of being called a racist is directly proportional to the factual basis of one’s observations about blacks.