Fun_People Archive
18 Jan
But is the tax still in place?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 100 12:04:52 -0800
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Subject: But is the tax still in place?

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Nursery Rhyme Leaves School Feeling Sheepish

LONDON (Reuters) - Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool? No sir, it's
racist, not in school.

In the age of political correctness, even the nursery-rhyme it seems is
unsafe after a school in Birmingham was told to stop teaching the song 'Baa
Baa Black Sheep' because "of racial undertones".

Birmingham city council issued the advice guidelines drawn up by an
independent schools advisory body claiming "the history of the rhyme is
very negative and also very offensive to black people due to fact it
originates from slavery", but said on Thursday it had now withdrawn them.

But the independent Working Group on Racism in Children's Resources stuck
to its guns.

"Whenever the word black is attached to another word it creates a negative
meaning which can make children feel embarrassed and confused about their
identity," said a group spokesman.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, the offending song
is believed to have been written in protest at a wool tax imposed in 1275.

© 2000 Peter Langston