Golliwog sales dropped from Facebook page after comments row

Wednesday, 3 June 2020

The golliwog dolls made and sold on Facebook by Picton woman Cathy Dalzell.

Golliwogs will not be listed on a Facebook selling page after a row over the deletion of comments from those challenging the “offensive” dolls.

The Nelson Buy Sell Swap Facebook page came under fire after a group said their comments opposing the golliwog listing from a Picton seller were removed, while abusive comments supporting the dolls were allowed.

The page's administrator, known as Lawrence, refused to give his last name and declined to comment on why he had been deleting the comments.

Cathy Dalzell at the stall, Gorgeous Gollys, back in 2014.

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However, he said he had now deleted all golliwog sale listings and would not list them in future.

The move followed opposition to Picton woman Cathy Dalzell's listing of golliwog dolls on the page at a time when Black Lives Matter protests swell around the world. A Dunedin dairy removed golliwogs for sale after complaints.

Last year, she and another woman were banned from selling the dolls at the Picton market, after cruise passengers from Britain and the United States complained to the local council.

The other woman no longer makes and sells golliwog dolls.

On Tuesday, Bee Fradis was blocked from the Nelson Buy Sell Swap Facebook page following the publication of the Stuff article where she spoke out against the golliwogs.

Six more people have since told Stuff they had been blocked from the page for challenging the sale of Dalzell's dolls, or had their comments deleted by the administrator.

However, they were shocked other “racist” and 'hateful' comments had been allowed.

“Black or white, shut the f*** up instead worrying about your own bulls***, your life must be so boring you comment negativity to down people, awesome job your dolls look neat f*** what people say,” wrote one person, whose comment was not deleted.

Another commenter called those complaining about golliwogs a “bunch of moaning idiots”.

Nelson Buy Sell Swap page rules clearly state 'no hate speech or bullying'.

'Bullying of any kind isn't allowed, and degrading comments about things like race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity will not be tolerated,' it says.

Thousands turned out in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington to protest the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

A poll on the Nelson (New Zealand) Community page asking if golliwog doll sales should be allowed showed that on Wednesday, 300 people voted 'yes', 156 voted “no”, and 100 voted “I don’t care, it’s just a doll”.

Nelson woman Jennifer Benton said she tried to make “relevant, informed and educated” comments about golliwogs on Dalzell's recent sale listing.

However, she was met with 'hateful' comments, and when she reported the post to the page admin, they only deleted her comments.

Another Nelson woman, Ash Gee, was blocked from the page for speaking out against the dolls.

Gee said anyone defending golliwogs was perpetuating 'casual racism', and the idea that 'people of colour's thoughts, feeling, experiences and histories don't matter'.

Small things, like golliwogs, were the reason why 'big things', such as racially-sparked murders and riots, were still happening.

'Too many people, let’s face it, mostly white people that look like me, don’t care because it doesn’t impact them,' Gee said.

They would even 'clutch at ugly dolls with a racist history' because of a refusal to give up the tiniest thing.

'I don’t want my daughter growing up to think any object is worth more than another persons thoughts, feelings or their right to respect.'

Sarai Tuhua was also blocked from the page in early May for challenging a golliwog listing.

Tuhua’s 13 year-old non-binary child, Te Urukeiha Tuhua, was also blocked for the same reason.

They were mocked for their gender and one commenter wrote 'it's people like you that give Maori a bad name'. The comments were not deleted.

Tuhua said she looked at atrocious acts, such as the killing of George Floyd, and wondered how events like this could still happen today.

“It doesn't happen by itself, we did that. We built this system. The golliwog is a piece of that system, it was made for the purpose of degrading black people,” she said.

“I think the Human Rights Commission needs to step in and make [golliwogs] illegal.”

Human Rights Commissioner Meng Foon said golliwogs and blackface were offensive as they perpetuated the sort of stereotypes which often underpinned racism.

'People must take the time to understand the history and origins of these offensive icons, particularly if they wish to make money from selling them.'

Changing attitudes within communities meant practices that were once considered acceptable were now inappropriate and offensive. 

It was the same for golliwogs, he said.

Members of the public may consider contacting the commission with their concerns, reporting advertising where it is posted on social media to the site itself, or Net Safe, and review the Advertising Standards Code.

The code states that an advertisement must not contain anything that is indecent, or exploitative, or degrading, likely to cause harm, serious or widespread offence based on race, colour or ethnic origin.