posted
While looking at books at he Boston Public Library, I saw a collection of Carl Barks' Donald Duck stories. I checked it out.
The collection is titled "Lost in the Andes" which is the first story in the collection. The 4th story thogh is titled "Voodoo Hoodoo" and I was shocked at the overt racism in the story.
The story starts with the people of Duckburg talking about a zombie seen around town. Donald stops a guy carrying a trumpet and asks him about the zombie. The guy is named Bop Bop. While everyone else talks normally, Bop Bop talk with a Southern drawl. He is also drawn slightly different, having lighter skin around his mouth.
Donald then trips over the zombie, who is definitely black. The zombie mistakes Donald for Uncle Scrooge and gives him a doll. Donald pricks his finger. Scrooge tell Donald that the magic medicine is supposed to make him shrink.
Scrooge then related why the zombie was after him. When he was young, he was looking at some land in Africa for a rubber plantation. The tribe who owned the land wouldn't sell, so Scrooge "hired a mob of thugs and chased the tribe into the jungle." No one shows any problem with what Scrooge did.
The zombie returns to Donald's house having no place else to go. Donald, his nephews, and the zombie go to Africa to get the cure from the shrinking. There the natives are drawn very stereotypical in a racist manner. The witch doctor is given the name "Foola Zoola". The boys get out of a couple of scrapes by giving the natives money. They end up using the zombie to stop the natives chasing them. THe Ducks then leave, without making sure that the zombie is alright.
Another story also features black natives that bow down to Gladstone Gander and Uncle Scrooge. One native calls Scrooge "massa".
It both fascinates me and upsets me to see such racism in old stories like this. What fascinates me is that anyone could have seen nothing wrong with this.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I read about that. And just a few years ago, a Legion post near where I was living in Ontario hosted a Halloween contest, awarding prizes to a duo dressed as a Klansman and a slave (in blackface, no less).
From: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Registered: Dec 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Fat Cramer: It's awful to read some of that old stuff and to think that most of our parents (if you're my age) thought it was okay.
Unfortunately, it's not just old comics; racist attitudes persist in Canada.
From the article: “Obviously people can’t take a joke,” said LeClair. “I am 63 years old and as far as I am concerned a joke is a joke.
That was no joke.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
When I was writing the initial post, the show "In Living Color" with their "Men on Film" skits kept popping up in my mind.
-------------------- Five billion years from now the Sun will go nova and obliterate the Earth. Don't sweat the small stuff!
From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
Re: that joke in the Canadian newspaper - I can't believe there were people out there who could read that joke and not think it's racist! If ever a joke fit the definition of "racist", it was that one.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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