Monday, December 12, 2005

The Whitening of Little Minds

Yesterday my wife and I attended a Christmas party with our Sunday School class. Everyone interested in attending was encouraged to participate in our church's program for assisting families in need during the holiday season by purchasing a "joyous toy." We were all handed a list of needed toys from the agency with whom we have partnered. So before the party, my wife and I swung by our local Target to pick up one of these toys. Among the items that appeared on the toy list were African American and Hispanic baby dolls. That sounded like a good idea to us, so we fought through the Christmas crowd like a middle linebacker, in search of one of these baby dolls.

We live in a rather economically and racially diverse area of Atlanta. So you can imagine my surprise when our local Target did not have any baby dolls that were African American or Latino/a. We searched up and down the toy aisles twice in search of such a baby doll and none were to be found. We ended up finding a Dora the Explorer doll (who happens to be Latina). As we proceeded through the check-out line, I took a quick scan of the room and realized that the majority of people whom I could see were in fact minorities.

When I was a kid, I remember playing with my toys. I recall that whenever I played with my Thundercats, He-Man, or G.I. Joe toys, I entered into the imaginary world of those characters. Even now, many years later, I still hear the theme songs and characters of these respective shows racing through my memories. ("Thundercats are on the loose... (come on, you know the rest)"). I still believe, through many hours of cartoons and boy-hood play, that "knowing is half the battle" and that maybe, just maybe, if I grab a sword and shout, "I have the power!" I will turn into He-Man.

If the majority of people at my local Target hail from minority communities, and toys are a means by which a child's imagination is expanded, then what message are toy manufacturers and stores sending to said communities? "We want your African American, or Latino/a, or Asian children to pretend to be...White kids?!" WTF? Peace.

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