New Respect for Ainsley Harriott

I love Ready, Steady, Cook. It's a great show.

And I gained new respect for the presenter, Ainsley Harriott, yesterday after his appearance on The Wright Stuff. While professing his respect for Carol Thatcher, he also said, "people think because they [gollywogs] are cute and cuddly, it's okay to use that word. It's not on".

See also: Carol Thatcher and the Gollywog Remark. She has been sacked from one of her shows on the BBC after refusing to apologise for comparing someone's hair to that of a gollywog. She insists this was not a racist remark.

Carol Thatcher and the Gollywog Remark

Apparently, Carol Thatcher made a remark at work, at the BBC, comparing someone's hair to that of a gollywog. This was being discussed on The Wright Stuff this morning. Carol Thatcher is a frequent panel member on the show. Remember, this is the same show on which Henry Bonsu used to be a panel member before they got rid of him with no explanation. He talks about this in my book Black Success Stories.

The panel pretty much agreed that this is a storm in a teacup, as Thatcher's remark was made privately. Sanjeev Bhaskar is making jokes about it.

These kinds of grotesque images were widely circulated in the African colonies to reinforce negative stereotypes about African people, as the the late Len Garrison, founder of the Black Cultural Archives explains in Black Success Stories.

I don't think anyone should have to work in a workplace where these kinds of remarks are being made.

One of the key areas in which Black people were taught to have negative thoughts and feelings about ourself was around our hair. To read more about this, read The Key to Confidence and Self-Esteem. See also What They Don't Want Us to Know.