Mom Says Playmobil Pirate Set Had Racist Instructions To Shackle Dark-Skinned Character
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A mother is upset after she says her son's toy came with racist instructions, telling him to shackle a dark-skinned character that appeared to be a slave.
Ida Lockett was happy for her son after he received a Playmobil pirate ship for his fifth birthday.
"He was excited when he got it," she said. "I spent the weekend putting it together."
And only after putting together the gift from his aunt did she see what her son was playing with.
"This right here was found on his neck," she said.
The dark-skinned character with no shoes and tattered pants came with instructions to put some sort of neck piece on him.
"You cannot have this specific accessory and call it anything else," she said. "The fact that you can Google it, look it up, say what it is—it's a slave collar."
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Ida is sure her son was playing with a toy slave. The ship itself comes with what she calls a dungeon.
"It's definitely racist," she said. "It told my son to put a slave cuff around the black character's neck, and then to play with the toy."
CBS13 reached out to the toy's maker, Playmobil, and the retailer who sold it, Toys 'R' Us, but neither responded.
Sacramento NAACP President Stephen Webb says it is demanding action.
"This is deplorable; this cannot be accepted, and it needs to be pulled off the shelf," he said.