Little Orphan Nanny

     Every now and then I come across something that, well, just blows me away. At times like this I don't get angry, I just laugh. Having a frontal lode will do that. Kinda like watching a cock fight. Oh, sorry . . . dated myself there, but you know what I'm saying. Anyway, someone, or some organization will reach into their bag of tricks and pull out something so bizarre it defies logic. Now, I have to approach this one carefully. 

     Ever hear of Little Orphan Annie? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going there, save your fork. Seems there was this here ad campaign at Target. One LeSean Rinique Shelton goes a shopping with her eight year old daughter, and by and by they beheld an Annie-Inspired clothing line. Little girl says, "That's not what Annie looks like. How come the new black Annie isn't good enough? Does that mean I'm not good enough?" 

     Now before I launch into journalistic suicide here, please understand that I'm not picking on a little girl. Well, anyway, a petition was penned demanding Target pull the "grossly misleading" ads. Also demanded was an apology to the young actress who portrays Annie in the current movie. See, there's the issue. The little girl thought Annie was black. Seems Target had requested meetings with Ms. Wallis, the actress portraying Annie in the movie, which would have been great, I mean hit movie, little kids, Christmas, new clothes, and all, and, well, didn't work out, she never showed up, deal didn't gel.  

     Are black folk that out of step? Ethnicity is the salt and pepper (excuse the pun) of creation. Chris Rock's jokes would not be funny if Ron White told them. Fred Sandford could not be Archie Bunker. We don't need a petition to appreciate our variations. You see, that's what makes it all beautiful. The differences between us actually bind us together. And putting color filters on things won't fix it. Some things just ARE! I can understand the little girl's confusion, and I'll bet she'd be cute as a bug in an Annie outfit, but it is wrong to even let a child be exposed to a mind set where she has to even consider such a question. You see, there's the racism. The little girl should have not have been conditioned to even notice color. She should have just seen another little girl wearing clothes that SHE would also like. Swat them bees, swat them bees!

     Ok, let's argue about Michael Brown. Let Al Sharpton continue to laugh all the way to the bank as he dupes his minions out of millions, but let's leave the children out of it, ok? Then, hopefully, in twenty years or so a little girl will go to Target and just see clothes she wants, not be looking for Little Orphan Nanny! (Puck's a Jew by the way. She don't buy into this!)