Monday, August 31, 2009

Monkeys and children ...

Perhaps we shouldn't be so quick to assume that a darkly colored baby doll with the name Lil' Monkey' is automatically racist.

I lived in Colombia for three years as a child and remember people coming up to me to look at (and touch) my very, very blond hair (which, alas, didn't last into adulthood). Que mono they would say. A mono is a monkey and can also be used to mean 'cute.' And don't tell me we don't ever ever use the term 'you little monkey' when speaking to a child without meaning anything to do with skin color or racial background.

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