...Is Black.

I touched on this pre-Christmastime and never revisited: the issue of buying black toys for black girls and boys. As a 70s child runnin wild, I feel like I was of the first generation for who the option even existed. I’m sure the Black Is Beautiful era showed a spike in sales for black baby dolls; I remember a Halloween when the son of my babysitter dressed up as OJ Simpson, and it was a big deal that a costume of a black man even existed. My 3-year-old is growing up in the age (albeit not the country) of President Obama – he’s got his CHANGE toddler T-shirt from Union Square Park – but I still think it’s an issue, that children of color be somewhat surrounded by images (from pop culture or elsewhere) that reflect them.

Incidentally, I’d bought my boy a Green Lantern action figure without realizing he was in a messy métissagerelationship with Hawkgirl. So I suppose he’s not the greatest superheroic race man role model. Oh well. Mattel releases Cyborg sometime this year…