I admit to not following the Kardashian family. I may be the only one. But something really jumped out at me in the last few days.
Khloe Kardashian sent out a tweet asking for help finding a “biracial doll” for her biracial daughter. Dolls that resemble biracial or multiracial babies are not exactly a new phenomenon, but some do exist. That doesn’t really seem to be the problem.
Many, many people started social media screaming about black dolls being readily available and that Khloe should get her “really black” child one of them. Whoa! Here come the “one-drop” rule folks who think if you have one drop of black blood, you are black. Even dolls.
No, no, no, this isn’t about that. It’s about a mom wanting to get a doll for her daughter that she can relate to. It’s not about picking on skin tone or wanting the child to be white, which also rudely came out on social media. One black tweeter said, “Get your black daughter a black doll.” It’s not about making a social identity statement—it’s about a doll to play with.
Come on people. Get a grip. When my son was young, biracial looking dolls didn’t exist. He wanted a black “Buddy” doll for Christmas and we happily got him one. Not because we considered him black (he is biracial), or because he would become confused by skin color, but because we also would have gotten him a pink, red, or purple doll if that was what he wanted. He took “Buddy” everywhere with him. They both had short black hair and big brown eyes, but that was about the extent of how much they looked alike. I recently asked my son, who is now 34-years-old, what he remembered about Buddy and he said, “Not a thing.” But he does know very well that he is biracial. In fact, he’s expecting his own biracial daughter in February. I’ll get her the doll she wants or maybe one that looks like her. It’s what parents and grandparents do.
Photo Credit: Hollywood Unlocked