Nope!

Anything can be seen as racist if taken out of context. Bloody annoys me sometimes.

Likewise here.... I notice the utter terror placing a comment on THIS picture puts on people JUST in case it brands them as 'racist! Pathetic ... We in Britain 'used' to have the once famous 'Golly Wogs' (yes, I used the old name..) They are now called something else.. They were on the back of Marmalade... But, it became a flogging offence to use that word in this country .. You CAN be arrested for saying the wrong thing .. I could go on... People like Mr Connick should spend more time looking at Countries ways and traditions before throwing a hissy fit.... I'm gonna be quiet now... A fine picture, mate.. Rob

I don't think so. But there're people accusing Shakespeare's tragedy Otello of "racism" and ask for its ban. Here in Italy San Petronio, Bologna Cathedral, is closely monitored by police because of a Gothic(1420 !) painting depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Sometimes I wonder if all this "politically correct s*it" is pushing people into racism and xenophobia instead of preventing it.

Doesn't seem so to me, but I guess politically correctness enters into everything today, and people who have a bent that way can call it what they want. But a great photo!

It's a great shot, and I wouldn't be offended. I'm sure some people would and I suppose if there were enough outcry, things would change. Certain things become part of a culture and these little dolls and toys are exactly that. I find it all fascinating.

the blacks here got some old shows off the air like "Amos 'n' Andy" which was and is real funny. But the blacks say they have to go for it was Controversy and stereotypes the black people. maybe it was the same in this case?

to be honest, i thinsk that there are people looking for cheap five moments of TV glory. So they rake their brains in order to find an easy target. The dolls in question are: the dolls aren't racist: actually they look like the Haitians and other West Indians naive artists portrait themselves. You should investigate on the origin of the dolls and who makes and sells them. Anyway, nobody says a word when Farrakhan and other like him preach the apartheid against the whites, or teach in US schools and Universities that the whites are blue-eyed devils born from monkeys...just to say that racism and stereotyping don't come only from one side!!!

Not racist.

Outstanding capture my friend.

Interesting. Odd. Complicated. In this day and age, this sort of image means something completely different, and there are many who don't see this as racist at all. They're right...this isn't racist in and of itself, but it is a representation of a time period in US-American history in which it was politically incorrect to think of Blacks as animals, but totally acceptable, and indeed "liberal" to think of Blacks as either "near humans" or members of a separate (but equal) non-human species. Indeed, the very term "race" implies a difference in species rather than human ethnicity or skin color. (That's also a socio-linguistic loophole by the way: many ethnic chauvinists will maintain their prejudicial attitudes and be perfectly correct in their assertions that they're not racists...ah...semantic distinctions, aren't they wonderful?) I think the can of worms really opened by this image lies in the fact that it's not the image in and of itself that could be construed as offensive, but rather the time in which this sort of imagery came into existence. Many African Americans WILL find this image to be not only offensive, but supremely incendiary. It also feeds a different sort of ethnic chauvinism as a growing sentiment within some parts of the African American community maintains that people of "non-color" are morally-dubious and incapable of human levels of empathy. As if that way of thinking isn't flawed enough, it gains support from images such as this as there are quite a large number of Blacks who still remember the days when this sort of imagery was commonplace and acceptable. They have distinct and still-living memories of White people who did act as if they were, truly, incapable of any form of empathy with non-Whites. Even now, older members of my own family react to White Americans in exactly the same way that members of the United Federation of Planets might react to The Borg. They show fear. They vacate the premises and if escape isn't possible, they raise their psychological shields and start looking for defensive weapons. My maternal grandmother and great grandmother actually went so far as to buy images such as these in exactly the same way that Blacks commonly use the word "Nigger" as a term of endearment, or in the way that gays use "Faggot" in a similar way. Such words are extremely taboo outside of the communities that they apply to but within such communities, the common idea is that in somehow "claiming these death-bearing-words," one gains power over them and removes their soul-piercing sting. In fact, my maternal grandmother (also a direct descendant of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams) showed my cousins and I her "Aunt Jemimah" and "Black Sambo" salt and pepper shakers and "Gold Dust Twins" and said: "If you can't look at a demon, it'll always haunt you. And when a demon tries to haunt you, call him by his name...call him Petty and Ignorant." Actually she used a wee bit more adult language than was right and proper for an upstanding woman talking to kids who were 12 at the oldest and 8 or 9 at the youngest. But those were simply vulgar words used to identify the truly profane sentiments that led to the creation of such images in the first place. In short, these particular dolls are probably NOT considered offensive at all, even by African Americans, BUT their more crudely-crafted progenitors still exist--they look more like tail-less monkeys with HUGE pink lips than humans, and they are considered profoundly offensive. Very few of them survive, but I'm sure that a small number of them remain. Blackface performances are another story all together. In their modern, non-Shakespearean incarnations they hail from a period in US-American history when Black people were not allowed into theaters, let alone on stages. Whites in blackface were a necessary constraint of very racist times in American history--since Blacks weren't allowed in theaters (unless they were cleaning toilets and mopping floors) there was no way Black performers could perform (or even collaborate on the creation of) Black characters on stage. Black perceptions on Blackness were not acceptable, and indeed, during such times, Blacks were considered incapable of true self scrutiny or self presentation. Blacks were considered, childlike, undeveloped, and ultimately, a bit hilarious in a way that implied: "Oh isn't that cute, the nigras are trying to act like people!" So it's actually NOT the images themselves, or even the performers themselves that are racist, but the origin of such images and performances that actually do strike a wounding blow. I also think that Harry Connic Jr. overreacted...at least a wee bit, he was also reacting to an assumption that OTHER countries have the same history as the USA and thus, the same "historical" perception and treatment of Blacks. (Well, admittedly, a most of them DO, but unlike the USA, they got over it.) I think that his overreaction is NOT excusable, no matter how much I might understand it. In a sense, Harry Connic Jr. has done the very thing that many Blacks find supremely offensive...he drew attention to these icons and took it upon himself to "defend" ethnic understanding, without once ever stopping to ask himself what Black people might actually have to say about it. Truthfully, Blacks today are probably largely indifferent to these dolls. As for blackface performances...well...for many Black people, they're not offensive so much as they more directly lead to hurt feelings. They're like pus in a wound that hasn't yet healed as they're direct references to a period of time in which dark-brown people were not considered human enough to receive humane treatment. The same goes for more modern iterations on this theme, which is, indeed, the "Black Sambo" or "the Tar Baby" or even "Aunt Jemima." Still later, pieces of s**t like "Gone With the Wind" added insult to injury by allowing Black actors to portray shrill, or muddle-mouthed stereotypes with bad posture, sub-human intellect, and a rather canine-like demeanor in terms of inter-ethnic relations with Whites. The whole Black cast of "Gone With The Wind" is essentially nothing more than Blacks forced into "blackface" performances, and though that connection may seem tenuous at best, countless African Americans, myself included, not only see that connection, but feel it. Personally, I never experienced the "casual" and not so hidden racism that ruled the USA before I was born...I wasn't born, after all, but I do remember seeing white guys in blackface singing "Mammy" and wondering why Black people weren't playing Black roles, or singing their own songs in a "happy" musical that ultimately, didn't seem very friendly. That single point is where the offense lies for many: not in the thing itself, but in the culture-specific, sociological cause of its creation in the first place. Should these dolls be sold in Australia? I guess that's really ultimately up for Australians (and not American entertainers) to decide. Should blackface performances be banned? Well...that's a tough one. Rather than ban or support it, I think it would be better for all parties involved to actually explore what it means and then decide from there. And as for people performing as these rag-doll characters, that's just weird...I mean, giant, ambulatory dolls? That's just a cultural artifact that probably needs even greater exposure on a global stage simply because it's something that really hasn't occurred to anyone else to do...living rag dolls on stage? As an American who hasn't seen ambulatory Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, it would be incredibly fascinating, to say the least. As for both this picture and the sentiment behind its creation, it's marvelous and compelling, not just because it's so "technically" good, which it is, but also because it's brave, honest, and on many levels, opens the way to an honest dialogue. Great stuff!