Racial stereotyping in the world of children persists, however. Today, racist images are more likely to appear in computer animation than between the covers of books. Two such characters appear in "Pokémon" and "Dragonball Z," wildly popular cartoons and digital games from Nintendo and Sony, respectively.
Few of Pokémon's 150 evolving pocket monsters have human attributes. However, the character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features: jet-black skin, protruding pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane, and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. In her pink gown, Jynx is a dead ringer for an obese drag queen.
When I first glimpsed Jynx on the "Pokémon" cartoon, I thought surely the character was an aberration. Then I saw Mr. Popo, a cosmic character from "Dragonball Z." Mr. Popo is a rotund, turban-clad genie with pointy ears, jet-black skin, shiny white eyes, and, yes, big red lips.
I discovered these characters because my 10-year-old son is a Pokémaniac. He watches the cartoon, collects the trading cards, plays the digital game, and surfs the Net for game codes and trivia. He still pleads for new Pokémon games, but declares that "Dragonball Z" is his favorite cartoon, as his daily doodles of the show's protagonist Goku attest.
Not coincidentally, both Jynx and Mr. Popo were created by Japanese animators. Apparently, racist stereotypes that would shock Americans don't raise an eyebrow in much of Asia.
Hong Kong's Hazel & Hawley Chemical Co. would probably still be hawking Darkie toothpaste had the company not been acquired by Colgate. The Darkie brand's Al Jolson-inspired logo, a grinning caricature in blackface and a top hat, was as offensive as its name. Colgate bought the company in 1985, and then ditched the logo and changed the product's name to Darlie after US civil rights groups protested. However, the Cantonese name - Haak Yahn Nga Gou (Black Man Toothpaste) - remains.
American advertisers also have a shameful history of racial stereotyping, although such images long ago fell out of favor. Before World War II, African-American caricatures were employed for many products, from soap to cereal. Today, collectors of black memorabilia - mostly African-Americans - snatch up advertising and ephemera at antique shops, flea markets, and Internet auctions. Black collectors reason that reclaiming the images not only preserves heritage but strips the icons of their power to denigrate.
Not all black caricatures have been consigned to history, though. On supermarket shelves, updated incarnations of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, bankable logos featuring blacks as domestics, still serve up impressive market shares.
Neither icon bears even the slightest resemblance to Jynx or Mr. Popo, however. Known to millions of children through cartoons and product tie-ins, Jynx and Mr. Popo depict descendants of Africa through the bigoted lens of white supremacy. These stereotypical characters could adversely affect black children's malleable self-images.
Nearly a half century ago, to prepare for the historic Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund enlisted psychologist Kenneth Clark to conduct a study in the South's Jim Crow schools. Using black and white dolls, Mr. Clark asked black elementary-school students which doll they liked best, which looked best, and which resembled them. The students preferred the white doll, but identified with the black doll, despite the fact that they said it looked "bad." This admission upset many of the children. The main hero, Goku,
looks very Japanese (black hair and dark brown eyes). But later, when he
becomes more powerful and reaches a higher level of energy, his hair
becomes blonde and his eyes become blue. No comment.the Japanese word gorirra ( gorilla ) comes to mind, but that it wasn't specifically used towards blacks since
many Japanese often use it to refer to any big, husky, and unattractive person. I once read where someone saw a Japanese college
student with a sambo character on her slippers with the words, Nigger Head. To me, such things are very
offensive, but for many Japanese they are kawaii (cute). Not until I asked how they would feel if I sold little
yellow dolls, with buck-teeth and slanted eyes did they understand why I felt so offended. Another word I
should mention was daisansekaijin which literally means third world person, which does not just single out
Blacks but any dark-skinned person who looks as if they came from an underdeveloped nation.When I first went to an elementary school for a visit, the children surprised
me when they tried rubbing my skin to see if my color would come off. Yet these were the same children that
would cry because they didn't want to see me go. Still, ignorance can be ugly. One of my Black friends once
told me that some old man held out his hand for her to shake. Seeing this as an opportunity to extend her
friendship, she shook his hand. As she shook his hand, he began to lean over, with his tongue out of his
mouth, preparing to lick her hand. Before he could accomplish his goal, she pulled her hand away and angrily
asked what he was trying to do. His reply was that he wanted to find out if she tasted like coffee. Such
incidents as these happen more in Northern Japan where it is more rural and the influx of foreigners is very rare.