My WWII generation watched “Bugs Bunny” outwit evil Japanese cartoon villains. All of us knew the Indians were bad and had to die. r by his toe…” We played cowboys and Indians. Our childhood games, rhymes and media conspired: “Eenie, meenie, minie, mo Catch a n. That early “training” was comprehensive and left little room for question, challenge or doubt. As white infants we were fed a pabulum of propaganda.
Most of us first became aware of racial prejudice and injustice as children. Racism, the system (of oppression) and advantage (for white people) depends on the collusion and cooperation of white people for its perpetuation.
#RACIST EENIE MEENIE MINEY MO HOW TO#
Indeed, we have been carefully taught the opposite: how to maintain our white privilege. No white person has ever lived in a non-racist North America.) None of us has ever been taught the skills of anti-racist living. This journey sends us into unfamiliar territory we have never been here before. In the face of society’s and our own resistance, sustaining the will to continue this journey takes bold and stubborn effort. We are constantly tempted to change course by the racist propaganda of society and our own guilt and denial. There is little social or political encouragement for this journey of re-education. I need knowledge, guidance and experience to avoid the detours and traps waiting for me on this journey. I must unlearn the thorough racist conditioning to re-educate and re-condition myself as an anti-racist. There are many versions of how the sorting chant goes and it is often manipulated by children by inserting “Not” or leaving “Not” out of the chant.For white people living in North America learning to be anti-racist is a re-education process. The last three lines are often added to the rhyme as a way of choosing or not choosing other children to play (or whatever). The flight attendant claimed she had no idea that the children’s rhyme might have racist connotations. I had no idea that the rhyme had a racist history until I began researching it yesterday.Īn example of this ignorance was the use of the rhyme by a 22-year old Southwest Airlines flight attendant in 2001 who said the following over the intercom: “Eenie meenie minie mo, pick a seat, we gotta go.” Two African-American passengers sued the airline for making the racist remark and discriminating against African-Americans. The racist aspect of the rhyme seems to be largely unknown to the past few generations of chanters/singers. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the racist second line morphed into “catch a tiger.” Why a tiger? Who knows.
It is thought to be a reference to slave selection or what slave owners would do if they caught a runaway slave. It used to be sung as “catch a nigger by its toe” and such line made its way into the rhyme shortly after the civil war when racial tensions in the aftermath of slavery were very high. The second line didn’t always refer to a tiger. Why would you want to catch a tiger by its toe? And what are the odds that after doing so the tiger would holler to be let go? The second line in the American playground version “catch a tiger by its toe” makes no sense. Such rhymes have been quite common throughout the past few hundred years.
Versions in Other Languagesĭr.Adrienne Raphel, writing in the Paris Review provides these following other examples of forms of Eeny Meeny:Īdditionally, there are many other counting and sorting rhymes that are similar to eeny meeny. A third theory is that its orgins can be traced back to ancient Celtic rituals of sorting out who should die as a sacrifice.īasically, nobody knows where the rhyme originated, but it goes back further than American children on the playground. Another theory is that it was coined by shepherds in England in Scotland as they chanted to count their sheep. One theory is that it originated from Saõ Tomenese, a creole language spoken by African slaves. Eeny meeny miny mo – what does it mean? Where did it come from? Why would you want to catch a tiger by its toe? Is it racist? OriginsĮeny Meeny is known as a “counting rhyme” or “chanting rhyme” and forms of it have existed for hundreds of years and in many different languages.
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