No More Aunt Jemima.
Speedy Gonzales, the Taco Bell dog, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and tons of other icons from my childhood...forget about all the politics behind all of this. I see both sides and think both sides have valid arguments. Maybe this is selfish, but I'm just worried at this point that my childhood is going to be unrecognizable by the time I'm 50.
Please don't take this post as an opportunity to hop up on a soapbox and preach your side of it in the comments. I just wanted to express that it makes me kind of sad. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn't know about any racism or ill intent tied to these images as a kid. I just knew I liked them. They gave me a warm at home feeling. I didn't have a warm loving mother as a kid. My brother and I were both basically raised by television. When you don't have things like steady affection from a parental figure, you develop emotions for other things. Sometimes it's things as dumb as advertisements that make you feel like you have a motherly figure in your life. Aunt Jemima was one of those people for me.
It's like in J Cole's song No Role Modelz. The first thing he says is "first thing first rest in peace Uncle Phil. For real. You're the only father that I ever knew." Now, I do have a father who was active in my life, but I really didn't know him until I was 9. I filled a void that my mother left by not showing us affection or really taking care of us, with things that seemed motherly to me. Full House, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince, Step by Step as well as countless icons from ads are the ones who filled that space. They were our family. They taught us life lessons. They gave us our moral compass in the early years of our lives. I know it's dumb, but taking those things in a small way, feels like I'm losing a family member. LOL I'm actually sad that Aunt Jemima is not going to be around anymore. Yes, I know that's ridiculous lol, but I can't help the way I feel.
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