Oakland artist urges US agency to sell black mannequins

“My reaction was, what the hell is this?” Brown told ABC7 News. “I couldn’t believe it. I was looked down upon.”

Brown said that although the rubber dummy is painted white, the black people’s facial features are still phenotypically similar.

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“For a Negro, in general, you’ll see the lips, the nose, the shape of the face, the shape of the head, there are things that allow you to generally, easily identify as a person,” Brown said.

“The only reason it’s painted white is because you need to be able to see where the photos land when you’re taking it,” she explains of the dummy. “But phenotypically it’s a Negro. That’s undeniable.”

Brown was equally shocked, she was even more shocked when she learned that the dummy production company based in Southern California – Kistabra Inc. – has a contract with the US General Services Administration (GSA). Dummies are sold on the federal government website and are available for purchase by other federal agencies.

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“There is a long history of violence against Black people and the Black body, which makes it all the more serious that our government is using our money to make money,” Brown said. buy them.

Brown has launched an online petition asking the GSA to remove the dummy from their catalog.

In a statement, a GSA spokesperson told ABC7 News, “We have just been made aware of the petition and we are committed to looking into this matter thoroughly. The GSA is committed to advancing racial equality. and we look forward to following up as we have more information.”

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The company behind the dummy, which also operates under the name “Rubber Dummy,” declined to be interviewed, but contacted by phone the CEO’s daughter told ABC7 News the concerns were ” ridiculous” and that “Black people shoot them all day every day.”

In a 2018 YouTube video from a gun trade show, CEO Mike Lessnick defended his dummy. When asked about his concerns, he said, “Never was my intention or thought process in my head it looked like that until someone pointed it out to me.”

However, he continued to sell dummies.

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Meanwhile, Brown turned one of the rubber dummies into a work of art that is currently on display at Oakstop in Oakland. She said it represented the dehumanization of Black men.

“The real aim is to raise awareness, to use the heart to heal, but to use it to help people understand the reality of things,” she said, “This is really someone of African descent; that this actually a Black man. . . “