A few golliwog dolls does not make Toowoomba Australia’s most racist town

A GOLLIWOG display under a ‘White Christmas’ sign could be labelled as ignorant and in bad taste. But that’s a long way from slamming a whole town as racist.

TOOWOOMBA is Australia’s most racist town? Please, a display of golliwog dolls in one chemist shop shows nothing of a sort.

I can understand indigenous activist Stephen Hagan’s disgust at seeing these dolls under the banner of “experience a WHITE CHRISTMAS” but jumping to the conclusion that the whole town is racist. Come on.

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The chemist shop could be accused of being ignorant and having bad taste and having a complete lack of social knowledge, but that’s a long way from slamming the whole town as racist.

Hagan made headlines years ago by rightly fighting against the naming of a Toowoomba sport’s oval after EJ “Nigger’’ Brown, a nickname for an early 1900s footballer with a fair complexion, but that was the humour of the time. The word is loaded with a lot more poison these days and points to America’s days of slavery.

His fight against racism is right but on this occasion it’s an over-reaction.

Let’s look at why Toowoomba is not racist.

Firstly, it’s home to 2000 Sudanese refugees and while there has been the usual reaction to that from some fringe dwellers it has been an effort that should be applauded and is a pretty good indication of an accepting and tolerant community.

Toowoomba is home to many Sudanese, Afghan, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Picture: Mark Cranitch

The city has actually been taking in refugees for 16 years. That’s not the sign of a racist town. And not just Sudanese, but Afghans Syrians and Iraqis.

I can remember golliwog dolls in my youth and while I understand they are a reviled figure in America, they certainly were not thought of in the same way here. They were just a black, funny looking doll with a weird name.

In 2010, when Oprah Winfrey came to Australia there was an outcry over a shop near her Melbourne hotel selling golliwog dolls. I can understand Ms Winfrey being appalled by that but Australians? Probably not.

A symbol is whatever someone wants it to be and in America the golliwog is a symbol of racism, but Toowoomba is not in America.

Golliwog dolls could probably be easily consigned to history with no loss to society, but they are not a symbol of Toowoomba’s inherent racism.