Golliwogs gone from popular student dairy

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

Golliwogs previously for sale at a Dunedin dairy.

A popular dairy in Dunedin's student quarter has pulled golliwogs from sale.

A photo supplied to Stuff showed the knitted dolls were wrapped in plastic and for sale as recently as Monday.

But as the Black Lives Matter protests gain traction around the world, the owners have come under increasing pressure to pull the controversial dolls from sale.

A person at the store, who declined to be named, said the dolls had been sold from the store for several months but were now withdrawn.

''We used to, but we don't any more,'' the man said.

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The Willowbank Convenience Store, in North Dunedin.

''We've had them for months and no-one has ever criticised them before.''

''They are not there any more so there is nothing to say.''

The sale of the dolls were highlighted in an online story by student magazine Critic, with some threatening to boycott the popular store.

''RIP I'm going to miss those chips but no way I'm going back there now.''

The person who took the photo of the dolls told Stuff she confronted the owner about them, explaining what they meant and why it was offensive to sell them.

''It was met with stubborn ignorance and a complete shutdown of the conversation,'' the woman, who declined to be named, said.

''Just because you believe that something isn't racist, because it doesn't oppress you personally, doesn't suddenly make it no longer racist.''

''That's white privilege.''

The sale of the dolls comes a day after Stuff highlighted the story about Picton woman Cathy Dalzell, who makes and sells golliwog dolls on her personal Facebook page.

The golliwog is a black ragdoll character which appeared in the 1895 children's book called The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a Golliwogg, written by British author Florence Kate Upton.

The character, which has black skin, eyes rimmed in white, big red lips and frizzy hair, was based on the blackface minstrel tradition. They later became popular children's toys.

However, over the past few decades, the doll has increasingly become seen as a symbol of racism.

Race relations professor at Massey University, Paul Spoonley, said he found it 'surprising and very disappointing' that Kiwis still did not understand how offensive golliwogs were.

'They have a very particular history that comes from a slavery-inspired racist literature that demeans Africans, including African-Americans,' he said.