Carole Boston Weatherford

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Carole Boston Weatherford is an African American author and critic, now living in North Carolina, United States. She writes children's literature and some historical books, as well as poetry and commentaries. She won some literary awards.[citation needed] She is a pro-African American critic and often revolves around African-Americans. Her three main criticisms that she sometimes circles upon are the Pokémon character Jynx, the series Dragon Ball character Mr. Popo, and the Hong Kong toothpaste (especially irrelevant in "Japan's Bigoted Exports to Kids").

Contents

[edit] Attack on Jynx

Weatherford claimed in a May 2000 newspaper article titled "Politically Incorrect Pokémon" that Pokémon #124, Jynx, is a negative stereotype of African Americans.[1][2], despite the fact that Pokemon originated in Japan, where blackface theater was never prevalent. Some say that the Pokémon Jynx originated from the Japanese trend of yamanba. Nintendo apologized and agreed to change Jynx's face from black to purple in 2002, and Shogakukan (the company that produces the Pokémon anime) changed Jynx's face color to purple in 2005. Also, as a result of her campaign, Warner Bros. has banned all episodes that show Jynx in "offensive colors".[3]

[edit] Other critiques

In two articles, Weatherford claims that the Cantonese name of Darlie Toothpaste, "Haak Yaan Nga Gou" (Blackman toothpaste) is offensive.

Also, in that year, she claims via The Christian Science Publishing Society in another article "Japan's Bigoted Exports to Kids"[4] that Mr. Popo, a character from the Dragon Ball metaseries,[5] is another negative stereotype of African Americans.

The manga later released by Viz in 2003 had reduced the size of Mr. Popo's lips.[6]

[edit] Selected works

  • Juneteeth Jamboree, with Yvonne Buchanan (Illustrator), 1995, Lee & Low Books. ISBN 1-880000-18-0
  • The Tar Baby on the Soapbox, 1999, Methodist College. ISBN 0-9670994-3-9
  • The African-American Struggle for Legal Equality in American History, 2000 Enslow Publishers. ISBN 0-7660-1415-0
  • The Sound That Jazz Makes, with Eric Velasquez (Illustrator), 2001, Walker Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0-8027-7674-4

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ "Politically Incorrect Pokémon" article
  2. ^ Japanese-language install pack required
  3. ^ List of banned Pokémon episodes which include the ones with Jynx in her offensive colors
  4. ^ Japanese-language install pack required
  5. ^ Slightly a metaseries, however, it should be mentioned that Dragon Ball is not one completely
  6. ^ Viz Media's modifications of Mr. Popo's lips in the manga at http://www.daiex.com/

[edit] External links