[lbo-talk] baa baa...sheep?

[Sean Andrews]

On Nov 10, 2007 11:19 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Ivan came home from his daycare singing "baa baa sheep" (as well as a
> 22-month-old can). It made wonder if "black" had been excised as
> racist. A quick Google search suggests that it may have been. Has
> anyone encountered them?
>

What did you search for?  I looked for just baa baa sheep (no quotes)
and all of them that came up had the black in the middle.

It does look like there was an instance, in the UK last year, where a
parents group tried to replace the "black" with "rainbow."

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article738220.ece

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4782856.stm

I guess I don't understand the origin of the song and I'm sure it is
naive to think that the use of "black" in the verse is just a result
of black sheep being a naturally occurring phenomenon, but it really
doesn't seem like a racist rant.  In fact, since I assume it comes
from England, I'd think it had something to do with class or
enclosures since sheep themselves were hardly an a-political topic.
But I can't quite get that out of the rhyme just by reading it.

Either way, this seems like a fairly strange exclusion--or one based
wholly on a misunderstanding.  It would make more sense to just stop
singing the rhyme altogether since it obviously has very little to do
with the average kid today.

s