A company behind a new range of Afro style washing up sponges has been slammed for being racist.

Campaigners have attacked British makers Paladone for its latest range of dish cleaning products which caricatures black soul legend Diana Ross as having a brillo pad for a hairstyle.

The offending items, which have just gone on sale across the UK, have been likened to reproducing golliwogs or the Black and White Minstrels by reinforcing negative stereotypes.

‘Negative stereotypes’: The range of dish washing products have been branded racist

The Unite Against Fascism general secretary Weyman Bennett said: ‘What are we going to have next, toilet brushes like that?

‘This is not appropriate for the 21st century to show images like that. It reinforces negative stereotypes and ideas.

‘Although it’s aimed at being humorous, sometimes it’s not funny.

‘We’ve spent 40 years removing racist imagery out of general politics, removing golly wogs, removing black and white minstrels, and it would be a shame if it crept back in.

Anger: The cleaning brushes ‘were not appropriate for the 21st century’, campaigners said

Mr Bennett, who has been campaigning for almost thirty years, warned: ‘It opens the door for people to produce racial stereotypes and that’s not something we want to see in our society.

Offence: Unite Against Fascism’s Weyman Bennett slammed the makers for reinforcing ‘negative stereotypes’

‘We’ve worked very hard to make sure that doesn’t happen.

‘That’s can’t be a positive thing in the 21st centry that we are using images that were really invented in periods of slavery and discrimination.’

Aiming a stinging attack directly at the company behind the products and called on them to be take off the supermarket shelves.

Mr Weyman said: ‘They need to think again. Is there no way they can come up with positive views of people without just using negative views of black people.

‘Trying to compare black people’s to brillo pads is not a really positive image – it’s not appropriate.’

Paladone said the range had been a phenomenal success since hitting the shelves.

But its attempts to give the humble cleaning implement a funky 70s disco makeover seems to have backfired.

A company spokesman said: ‘Our range of four washing up sponges are designed to make an everyday chore like washing up more fun.

‘The Disco, Beehive, Punk and Diva have sold hundreds of thousands of pieces. They have been a phenomenal success.’

Each, priced at up to £8, are currently on sale in the UK.

my commentary:

ummm WHY the hell are her legs gapped open like a man? while will’s legs are crossed like a school girl? #SIDEEYE!!
Jada Pinkett-Smith is shutting down divorce rumors surrounding her and Will Smith…
Jada tells French magazine Gala,

“Every year, a celebrity couple is on the radar. This year, unluckily, it’s us! I almost want to say that we should have been expecting it.”

“But Will and I know the truth. We are waiting peacefully for when the storm ends.”

“These rumours are completely untrue. I’m travelling a lot because of my work, as Will does. And the fact that I’m accompanying our daughter, Willow, on her trips, while Will spends time with our son, Jaden, doesn’t make things easier.”

“But our way of living hasn’t changed. Before the children, we were already away from each other quite often because of our work.”

“In general, Will and I take two months of holiday, at the end of the year.”

“Right after Thanksgiving, we shut down the curtain and nothing comes to bother our family life until January.”

 The national media went in to frenzy today when  Trayvon’s grieving mother called the shooting death of her son “an accident.”

This morning’s headlines — such as the one on the NY Daily News website reads: Trayvon Martin case: Slain teen’s mom, Sybrina Fulton, says killing was ‘an accident’.

The NY Daily News article goes on to quote Trayvon’s mom, Sybrina Fulton, who said Thursday, “I believe it was an accident. I believe that it just got out of control, and [Zimmerman] couldn’t turn the clock back.”

Fulton and Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, were guests on NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday, the morning after the announcement that George Zimmerman would be charged with 2nd degree murder in the shooting death of their son.

an accident does not fall under the category of second-degree murder…smh they know what they are doing!

well it’s been Updated by: Headline News host Nancy Grace she stated that the statement from Sybrina Fulton:

“The ‘accident’ I was referring to was the fact that George Zimmerman and my son ever crossed paths.”
NOT the fact that he “accidentally” killed her son, smh at the media manipulation-_-

source: (CNN) -- Baltimore police said Tuesday they are making progress in their investigation into an attack that left a man beaten, stripped and robbed on the street while onlookers laughed and did nothing to help.

Anthony Guglielmi, director of public affairs, said that someone "is being questioned by detectives and prosecutors." He did not call that person a suspect.

On Monday police said they had identified one suspect, but there is no word on whether an arrest will be made soon.

The attack, which police say happened on March 18 after St. Patrick's Day celebrations, was captured by at least two cameras. Video of it went viral.

"Not only did they rob him, but they attempted to strip him of his dignity. They tore his clothes off; they mocked him. That behavior just will not be tolerated," said Detective Nicole Monroe with the Baltimore police.

Police have not identified the 31-year-old victim from Arlington, Virginia.

According to the police report, the man was on the way to his hotel from a downtown Baltimore club when he was attacked.

The man, who had been drinking, told police he couldn't recall exactly what happened, but the videos fill in the blanks.

In them, a man is seen standing, unsteadily, against a row of mailboxes. A crowd starts to gather and women dance suggestively against him. Someone notices his watch and a hand seems to grab something from one of the man's front pockets.

He pursues the supposed thief and is punched in the face. The man falls over backward and his head hits the sidewalk so hard it can be heard on the video.

"Smackdown!" someone yells.

His pockets are rifled and his clothes pulled off. Some people can be heard laughing. No one comes to his aid.

According to the police report, the man lost his Tag Heuer watch, which he valued at $1,300, his iPhone and his car key.

CNN showed video of the attack to a number of people in Baltimore to gauge their response.

"That's pretty sad," said Finley George of Virginia, who was visiting the city with family. "I mean he obviously didn't do anything to anybody. They just got up on him and started beating him."

my commentary:

The special prosecutor in the case, Angela Corey, announced the charge against Zimmerman at an early Wednesday evening news conference held at the Jacksonville State Attorney’s office in Jacksonville, Florida.

She also announced that Zimmerman is in custody. The prosecutor won’t disclose Zimmerman’s whereabouts for his safety.

“We do not prosecute by public pressure or by petition,” said Corey. “We prosecute based on the facts of any given case.”

She also said: “We don’t discuss the evidence of the case. It would be improper to do so.”

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Second-degree murder is typically charged when there is a fight or other confrontation that results in death and where there is no premeditated plan to kill someone.

Zimmerman has also hired a new attorney, former prosecutor Mark O’Mara, after his previous attorneys resigned. O’Mara said: “I’m expecting a lot of work and hopefully justice in the end.”

Before the announcement, the parents of Martin said charges against Zimmerman would start the healing process, but they won’t stop fighting until he’s convicted.

Zimmerman’s shooting of the unarmed black teenager Feb. 26 brought demands from black leaders for his arrest and set off a furious nationwide debate over race and self-defense that reached all the way to the White House.

The 28-year-old Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, said the teenager attacked him. Martin’s family argued Zimmerman was the aggressor.

On Tuesday, Zimmerman’s lawyers announced they were withdrawing from the case because they hadn’t heard from him since Sunday and didn’t know where he was. They portrayed his mental state as fragile.
Zimmerman charged with 2nd-degree murder