Peas from the Same Pod
Blacks Right to Take Offense, But Nasty Stereotypes Not Theirs Alone
The Swedish retail clothing giant, H&M,
recently ran an advertisement featuring a black boy wearing a hoodie bearing
the label, “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” Social media
reaction was viral, prompting apologies and a retraction from H&M. At best,
the ad was insensitive; at worst, racist. In reading the comments about the
controversy in an online forum, I was struck by the claim that white people
have historically reserved the “monkey” stereotype for people of African
descent. While there’s no argument that Blacks have suffered this caricature
far more than others, it has not been uniquely theirs. Throughout the 19th
century, the “simian” Irishman was a stock figure in British and American
publications. Thomas Nast (1840-1902), America’s most famous
political cartoonist, routinely portrayed the Irish as ape-like, as did the
English illustrator, John Tenniel (1820-1914), who is best known for
his illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. And they were
not the sole offenders, as Frederick Opper’s 1882 Puck illustration
demonstrates. The title, “The King of A-Shantee,” plays upon the stereotype of
the ignorant and impoverished “shanty Irish." It also alludes to the
traditional ruler of the Ashanti people of Britain’s “Gold Coast” colony. The
Asantahene was conventionally portrayed seated "in state" on his
golden throne. To many Anglo-Saxon Americans and Victorian Englishmen, the
Hibernian and the African were peas from the same pod.
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