Probably. I"be heard Aunt Jemima used as the female equivalent of Uncle Tom.
I have mixed feelings about the Aunt Jemima characer too. I guess that’s why I put it out there. Ultimately Aunt Jemima was a character used to brand a pancake mix and syrup.....very much like Ronald McDonald, Colonel Sanders, or Jeffry the Giraffe.....right? But, was the Aunt Jemima character condescending to black people? In other words, is the character meant to be the ‘house slave’? All I can say is, when I was growing up as a white kid in mostly ‘black Oakland’ I never once thought of Aunt Jemima as anything more than a picture on a breakfast product. To me, she meant happiness. It’s Sunday breakfast with my family!!!!.......nothing more....nothing less. But, if you’re a generation or two older than me, I can see how some images might be offensive and considered racist stereotypes.
But, lets get back to the Pirates and Viking images. Those two groups were murderers and marauders in real life. But No one today associates those images with anything more than silly fun. In the end.....what one thinks or doesn’t think about an image is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. There is a time to be sensitive and there is a time to let it go. Obviously, in regards to Pirates and Vikings.....we’ve decided to let it go.
All I know is this: With the election of Donald Trump, our country is not seeing a rise in white racism as the political left would have you believe....and arguments about ‘black face Halloween costumes’ ring more hollow than ever. Instead, the rise of Donald Trump represents the beginning of the end of effective ‘Victim politics’...the beginning of letting go of the past sins of America and embracing a future where everyone of all races truly gets along.
This is devastating to the political left because since the end of the Civil War minorities have defined themselves, motivated themselves, and shaped themselves around the idea that they are victims....and for many years it was absolutely true. When this meme actually comes to an end.....when minorities are truly up for the grabs from a political standpoint...the political left as it is currently defined is through....and this is what scares the hell out of them.....not President Trump.
Desperate times call for desperate actions....like acting offended over silly Halloween costumes.