Noddy and the Golliwogs
1,750 words
First they came for the golliwogs . . .
. . . but I was not a golliwog, and said nothing. At first glance this story looks encouraging, as it involves the rare taking into custody of a black gang by the British police, but on closer inspection it is just a repetition of what is happening all over Britain.
I don’t know if the golliwog was ever big in the States, but they are knitted children’s dolls, usually dressed in a smart red-and-yellow outfit, perhaps with a bow tie. But have a look at one and I am sure you will see the problem. Blacks in Britain, as everywhere else, are like Thomas More’s devil: They cannot endure to be mocked.
The owner of a pub in the county of Essex in England had a collection of “gollies,” as they are affectionately...