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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 10:40am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

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A curious aspect of this story for me, is that having spent much of my formative years in England, deep in the folds of my brain I associate the name “Sambo” with people from India.

The children’s story from which the name is taken involves the titular character having an adventure with a tiger, of which there are none in Africa. Mind you, the story was titled “Little Black Sambo”, but in England at that time “black” was used to describe just about any non-white person.

Not meant as an endorsement of either. An observation on stranger days!

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Steven Myers
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 11:56am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

When I was in 5th grade, we did a school musical that included several fairy tale characters, including Little Black Sambo. In retrospect, I think they included him to add diversity to the cast. The script had an explanation of who he was, and there was a note that he could be played by a black actor or a person in blackface.*

The previous year we did a musical about settlers in the western prairie. I remember being baffled by the makeup used on the people playing "Indians". They each had red circles on each cheek. I'm thinking it was "redskin"? At the time, I didn't see a purpose to it at all, it just looked silly.

* I was in the ensemble, so I had a copy of the script, and I still remember a lot of the details. My character was Jack Toddy, who wasn't afraid of anybody!
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Thomas Woods
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | 3 post reply

How did Robert Downey Jr get away with it?
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 12:50pm | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Context!!
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Bill Collins
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | 5 post reply

When i was a kid in the 70`s "Black Sambo" was a
derogatory term used to insult Afro-Caribbean people, i
definitely remember it being used in prime time sitcom
"Love Thy Neighbour"
I also remember a chocolate covered mallow cake/sweet
called "Sambo" which i think was a European import.There
was also BBC1 Saturday night prime time "The Black and
White Minstrel Show" which was white men blacked up with
white eyes and lips, this i`m sure continued until
around 1980.
Stranger days, indeed.
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John Byrne
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Grumpy Old Guy

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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Blackface survived as entertainment a LOT longer than it should have!
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 1:49pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

When I was visiting Poland a few years ago, I was at a street market and a couple of booths had Golliwog(?) dolls for sale. It was an uncomfortable sight to see, coming from the US.
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Mike Norris
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 1:53pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

There was restaurant call "Sambo's" I went to as a kid, that was a pancake place. They used the story as part of their decor, but it was an Indian child not an African 
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Stephen Churay
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 3:37pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

Social Justice Warriors ruin everything.
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Eric Jansen
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Posted: 15 December 2018 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | 10 post reply

My parents took me to Sambo's all the time when I was a kid.  I loved how the story was told on the walls--no racial exaggerations.  They're all closed now, except I believe there's one left in Santa Barbara.  Apparently, Santa Barbara is impervious to "social justice."
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 16 December 2018 at 11:34am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Sambo is also a Russian martial art. Its an acronym for a name that's probably hard for even some Russians to say properly.




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