little black sambo
I've lived in Leicester for 20 years now, a wonderful vibrant, multicultural city with a 30% asian population, a smattering of black folk and even less Chinese, my grandparents were 30 miles up the road in Nottingham.

They've both now shuffled off to the great M&S in the sky, which is a bit of a relief to many that knew them, the old guy was a cantankerous fucker but my gran was a kindly salt of the earth type which always made her ingrained racism a little hard to stomach.
One of the highlights of my childhood was being allowed to get the matches for the cigarettes from 'little black sambo' as he was affectionately named, the 3' high wooden 'statue' in their lounge which held matchbox and ashtray in a subservient manner - it was the closest to a domestic they were likely to get.

www.stonegateantiques.net/items/964506/picture2.jpg

I don't remember finding this hideous thing offensive at the time but then I grew up in an age of Enid Blyton and gollywogs, what I did object to was that every single time I enquired whether they would like to visit me I was met with my grans contorted face announcing 'oooh no, I'll not go there - it's full of darkies'
(AndySpanners not working too hard on, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 14:46, 1 reply)

my first ever award at school was when I got a gold star AND a red smiley stamp for doing the best colouring-in picture of Little Black Sambo in the WHOLE CLASS.
This was in 1980.
(Gritty, yet fluffy. kipperpillock is obsessed with me =), Thu 27 Oct 2011, 16:56, closed)