I PITY THE FOOL!

[therealgigantor]

Am I the only one who thinks this is racist?

There has been much discussion about this in the thread. I can assure you there is no racist intent, but I can appreciate that some people might find it offensive.

[lostinparadise]

I love it!  Mr. T is awesome and we share a birthday (May 21st) so have a sort of attachment to him.  And no one can ever go wrong with a monkey version of anything.

[loudxmouse]

i adore this. good job!!!!

[spurtiic]

I clicked in from the main page of craftster, where the image is divorced from its context (the sock monkey challenge), and I was a little taken aback by the racist implications of portraying mr T as a monkey.  In the context of the contest, it's a really cool and creative entry... but just "out there" as one lone crafted object, I was really shocked at all the "awesome!" and "cool" posts (obviously, perused before I figured out what forum this thread was a part of).

I think you feel it's racist b/c the sock monkey is a MONKEY and Mr. T is a black man and I think we all know there have been horribly made jokes about "those" kinds of things, but this was not meant to be racist. You're just looking into it too deeply.  Sock "people" are made all the time, especially here on craftster!
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This is a wonderfully creative version of Mr. T.  I was laughing for hours!  The layers of gold jewelry just kill me!   

[knitknitter]

I normally would not post on a thread of this nature but I too, was surprised by the "awesome" and "cool" posts. For those who are unaware, making a sock monkey of a black person with exxagerated lips such as those that are found on this monkey, would be offensive not only to many black people but also to people of other races. I find the posts where people were saying that their relatives or loved ones could not stop laughing to be interesting. I personally do not have friends of any color who would have found the Monkey sock superfunny, but to each their own. Live and let live.

For those who are not aware of the offensive linkages that some people draw between monkeys and blacks, I will give a qoute from a recent story in the New York Times which used another connection between a black individual, in this case an innocent child, and a monkey:

In an exception to the usual stroller parade of black sitters with white children, some white nannies do care for black children — and experience slights because of it. Margaret Kop, a Polish sitter in Chicago, said that on a recent playground visit, “one of the other nannies asked me, ‘Where did you find that monkey?’ ” On the way home, Ms. Kop cried, stung by the insult to the child she loved.

qouted from "Nanny Hunt Can Be a ‘Slap in the Face’ for Blacks," New York Times
December 26, 2006
The article should still be free for a few days, so you can to the New York Times website and search for it, if you'd like. After that, they usually make you pay for their articles.

Now I in no way intend to say that people on the board who were laughing or the individual who made this monkey feel this way about black people. I was just so shocked by the number of people who professed ignorance about why a monkey sock about a black person with a tail and big thick lips could be seen as racist by some, especially if taken out of context, that I had to post a qoute that made the connection that some people make explicit.

In addition, I know that we all come to this board with different understandings of American history as there are people from all over the world on this board, which is what makes it so wonderfully unique. But dolls and figurines with similar features proliferated not only in the antebellum South but even during the better half of the 20th century. These dolls, in addition to blackface and other negative portrayals of blacks caused hurt for blacks and embarrassment and shame for whites who did not agree with the image of America that was being presented.

Again, I am not making a comment on the intentions of either the creator of this doll or people who expressed appreciation of it. I am simply responding to those who could not see how some could view the much-ballyhooed (on this thread anyway), Mr. T Monkey Sock as racist.

I clicked in from the main page of craftster, where the image is divorced from its context (the sock monkey challenge), and I was a little taken aback by the racist implications of portraying mr T as a monkey.  In the context of the contest, it's a really cool and creative entry... but just "out there" as one lone crafted object, I was really shocked at all the "awesome!" and "cool" posts (obviously, perused before I figured out what forum this thread was a part of).

I clicked in from the main page of craftster, where the image is divorced from its context (the sock monkey challenge), and I was a little taken aback by the racist implications of portraying mr T as a monkey.  In the context of the contest, it's a really cool and creative entry... but just "out there" as one lone crafted object, I was really shocked at all the "awesome!" and "cool" posts (obviously, perused before I figured out what forum this thread was a part of).

I think you feel it's racist b/c the sock monkey is a MONKEY and Mr. T is a black man and I think we all know there have been horribly made jokes about "those" kinds of things, but this was not meant to be racist. You're just looking into it too deeply.  Sock "people" are made all the time, especially here on craftster!
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This is a wonderfully creative version of Mr. T.  I was laughing for hours!  The layers of gold jewelry just kill me!   

[ellie.henry]

its lips are big because it's a sock monkey...and that's what they look like.

it is black because it's mister t....

so because i am caucasian, i can be pissed about any sock monkey out there that depicts a white person? (and there is a lance armstrong one in that competition)

this whole topic is getting old.

not EVERYTHING is rasist.

[knitknitter]

its lips are big because it's a sock monkey...and that's what they look like.

it is black because it's mister t....

so because i am caucasian, i can be pissed about any sock monkey out there that depicts a white person? (and there is a lance armstrong one in that competition)

this whole topic is getting old.

not EVERYTHING is rasist.

You are allowed to get "pissed" at whatever you like. It's a free world. But that does not mean that references to monkeys, moneychangers, mafiosos or other symbols that hurt people of different races and creeds, cannot be seen as hurtful. I would be concerned by a monkey sock featuring any of those things. I am sure that everyone would agree with you that "not EVERYTHING is racist." But everything is not under discussion here, the Mr. T Monkey Sock is.  People expressed ignorance about how it could possibly by viewed as racist by some, I tried to enlighten them. Take it or leave it. Live and let live and to each their own. (Shrugs and exits thread).

[missliz01]

great job.

[pamelamama]

that's just perfect.  perfect, I say!

[zazie]

great!