What does "sambo" mean in regard to black people?

Question

I just wonder because didn't there used to be a restaurant named Black Sambo's? What does it mean and why is it considered racist?

Answer 1

In regard to black people it is an example of stupidity in large numbers.



First there was a children's story about an *Indian* prince named "Little Black Sambo" who outsmarted wild tigers and turned them into butter for his pancakes. The black community in the USA somehow took offense, forgetting that it was a prince, and an Indian prince, and he was a hero and a conqueror. They just got stupid and complained until the publisher took the book off the market.



Then there was an unrelated restaurant started by two men named Sam and Bob so they put the names together and called it Sambo's. They bought the rights to use images from the book and decorated the restaurants with that theme. When the book was removed from the market the restaurants stopped using the images, and continued for several years before shutting down for overall lack of business, not because there were any more complaints about the blackness.



We will have to wait for a further explanation from the black community. We have already been waiting for almost 40 years.

Answer 2

A chain of restaurants used to be called Sambo's, not Black Sambo's. Blacks complained because they claimed that it was a reference to a children's story about Little Black Sambo, deemed to be racist. Sambos said that it was a combination of the owner's names but they bowed to black pressure. Most of the places in this area ended up as Denny's. Sambos was a nice place and in a lot of small towns there weren't any blacks anyway.

Answer 3

There wasn't a restaurant named Black Sambo's. There was a restaurant named Sambo's. I remember that "controversy." I was kid and had no idea that the word Sambo had any racist background. People griping about it was the first I'd heard of something like that.



So by trying to kill a "racist" restaurant name, they actually taught me a racist word that I didn't know before all that came about.

Answer 4

Because of the book that was deemed "stereotypical" of blacks and taken out of schools or store shelves. The restaurant also changed it's name which was also deemed derogatory at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Black_Sambo

The books are still on sale online and a restaurant in Santa Barbara has named their restaurant Sambo's...which is creating a stir with some.

Answer 5

It started with "Little Black Sambo," a children's book about a young boy in India who outsmarted a tiger. Of course it's racist, but it also has nothing to do with African-Americans, who are often offended because it sounds like they ought to be.

Answer 6

One of my favorite books as a child was entitled Little Black Sambo about a cute little black kid down south. Now it's on the banned list of books - why????

Answer 7

The origin of the word is not known for certain. It may have come from the Kongo word for monkey (nzambu). It was probably brought to common knowledge because it was used in the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin...however, at that time, it didn't have a derogatory racist connotation. It wasn't used as a racial epithet until the 20th century.



Today, it is a derogatory term used in the UK as well. Although historically in the UK, "sambo" just meant someone of mixed black and white heritage. (i.e. mulatto)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(racial_term)

Answer 8

I doesn't, it refers to an old fairy tail in India, "Little Black Sambo" But racial diversty came along and that was the end of that.

Answer 9

also use to be a childrens book "little black sambo"

Answer 10

It's from a story character, a little kid who OUTSMARTS others to prevail on his own.

THAT is why DEMOCRATS OBJECT to referring to anyone BLACK as "Sambo."

Answer 11

Yes , Sambo's was just like Denny's but the ACLU put them out of business.

Answer 12

Believe it was used many years agao.

In Russia it is a well regarded martial art. A cross between Judo and Wrestling.

Answer 13

To answer quickly, it means another Democratic president in 2016.

Answer 14

You know what it means. You're looking for racial love this morning. Don't worry. They're coming.