Golliwogs cause stir at gift shop
One of New Zealand’s most popular restaurants has been criticised by the Human Rights Commission for selling golliwog toys in its gift shop.
Riverstone Kitchen, near Oamaru, was voted New Zealand’s Restaurant of the Year in 2010 by Cuisine magazine.
The adjacent Riverstone Country Gift Shop has been selling golliwogs – cloth dolls modelled on dark-skinned caricatures.
The toys were popular in colonial countries in the 19th century, but the continued creation and sale of golliwogs has courted controversy in recent years.
A Human Rights Commission spokesperson said golliwogs were not ‘‘harmless toys’’. ‘‘They were born out of racism and represent an era that is best left in the past. ‘‘Something we did as children might have been acceptable then but that doesn’t make it acceptable forever – realising this is one of the important things about growing up.’’
A Riverstone Kitchen customer, Nik Wilson, said the gift shop should stop selling them. ‘‘I think we know the toys aren’t acceptable now.’’
Other Oamaru residents had mixed views. One, who did not want to be named, said the golliwogs were ‘‘outright racist’’.
‘‘I didn’t see them as a problem before, but now it’s pretty obvious.’’
Jo Davis said she did not mind the toys being sold.
‘‘I played with them as a wee girl and so did a lot of my Ma¯ ori friends. None of us saw them as racist.’’
Kitchen owner Dot Smith did not respond to several requests for comment.