Yesterday, an American five-year old’s toy made the news.
Mother Ida Lockett, from Sacramento, California, said her son was recently given a PlayMobil Pirate Ship. The toy includes a figurine that strongly resembles an African-American slave.
The Washington Post described the doll as “a dark-skinned doll wearing no shoes, ripped pants and a tattered yellow shirt.” The toy reportedly includes a “silver piece” which the instruction manual asks children to place around the dark doll’s neck- a neck shackle. The ship apparently includes a dungeon.
Ms Lockett claims the toy is “definitely racist.”
Playmobil said in a statement: ““The figure was meant to represent a pirate who was a former slave in a historical context. It was not our intention to offend anyone in anyway.”
Readers, I’m all for representation of difference in toys. I am a British Asian woman with a physical disability. As a child, I wondered two…
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