For all that is going on in the city of Atlanta, the City Council paused briefly to lobby for more positive images for black girls on television — in the form of “Doc McStuffins.”
The popular Disney Junior television show, about a six-year-old black girl who operates a clinic for broken toys, has not yet been renewed for a 5th season. On Tuesday, councilmember Keisha Lance Bottoms authored a resolution urging Disney to keep the show.
It passed 13-1.
“I know that there are people wondering why I introduced this,” Bottoms said. “I can tell you as the mother of four children and an African-American daughter, it is difficult to find positive role models that my daughter can see herself in. When I hear my daughter say she wants to be a doctor or a veterinarian, I know it is about what she has seen on television.”
Bottoms said when she shops for toys for her daughter that present a black image, it is often hard — with the clear exception of Doc McStuffins merchandise.
In reporting on the show, the New York Times noted that Doc McStuffins merchandise sales annually top $500,000. Last week, comedian and host of CNN’s “United Shades of America,” W. Kamau Bell tweeted his support of the show and urged parents to lobby Disney.
“We have to make it known it is important to see positive images that children can look up to,” Bottoms said.
Not everyone was convinced.
Howard Shook voted no on the symbolic resolution.
“I hope we are not going to make a habit of making formal opinions in areas of commerce and art,” Shook said. “We are going down a slippery slope. It is outside of my comfort zone.”
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