Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat

Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat

Well, this is certainly racist...Found this little racist gem via Reddit and it is pretty bad.

-Red Lips and dark skin are in full effect here: Actually, it might even more offensive because missing teeth and sheer laziness.

-Lazy Town: Yes, this town is called Lazy Town, just like the one with the little girl that tries get people to workout . This one is full of racist characters while her town is full of puppets.

-The Light-Skinned Woman: This is probably where I need to explain something a little bit more. The way they draw and animate her is completely different from the rest of the characters in the short film. They draw her with a real figure and pretty features. Sure she's a black person, but she has white features, which makes her better than the rest of the people in town, or that's what they're trying to imply.

High-Yellow (light-skin women) were seen as being a higher value to black men than dark skinned women back in the day. It was a sort of status symbol in a way. My grandmother was so light that she could almost pass for a white woman. I know that my grandfather married her for her light-skin. These are the same issues we have with black people saying, “You got 'good hair'”. Meaning it is straighter than usual(thus white).

Let me say it in a better manner with this quote from Weird Wild Realm.com, ((I doubt anyone thought about it when designing this beauty, but among the traits they selected was the fact that she's a "yaller gal," only a half-shade short of passing for white, derived from the standard racist assumption that white people are prettier than black people. And to make sure this lie is believable, every truly dark character in this cartoon is designed to be ugly.))

And, the fact she is the one that “teaches” them how to be productive and fun is a little crazy too. A light-skinned city girl comes into a backwater town and teaches them the proper way of boogie-ing. Even today, lighter toned black women are viewed differently than darker ones.

-We also get the big girl with the crossed eyes and the watermelon eating guy: Oh, boy.

-Should these cartoons be banned?: Nope, I think they need to be watched and discussed because they are a product of that time period (1940s). We need to compare these toons to the ones we have today. And the animation did pave to way for even better animation.

I would say we've come a long way, but I remembered the character of Mr. Popo...