Racist collectibles at Pence antique mall debated

[TexasTowelie]

MUNCIE, Ind. — On her Facebook page, Jeannine Lee Lake recently posted photographs of racist collectibles she says she photographed at U.S. Rep. Greg Pence's antique mall.

The objects included antique coin banks of Black males with very dark skin, oversize red lips and bulging eyeballs, as well as banks of what Collectors Weekly calls "one of the most enduring Black stereotypes" — mammy, a "motherly and overweight black woman who is visibly happy in her subservient position."

Lake, a Democrat and an African American running for Republican Pence's seat in Congress, called out the congressman and his wife, Denise, who runs the mall, for "profiting from hate."

That set off a debate on Facebook, of course.

Pence defenders said that "if you do not like what is offered...Don't frigging shop there!!!;" "Its history;" "these items are found in all antique malls not just the Mall you're attacking for political reasons;" "be upset with the merchants themselves who are selling such items;" "they are antique collectibles sold in a free democratic country where we have freedom of choice," and "these items are worth a lot of money and amazingly are highly collectible by black America."

Read more: https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2020/07/24/racist-collectibles-greg-pence-antique-mall-debated/5500284002/
(Muncie Star Press)

[mr_lebowski]

1. I would bet much if not all of this stuff is really not collectible antique merchandise ...

I'm sure it's true that legitimately old pieces that are truly a part of the era they depict (for example a real 'Whites Only' sign from a coffee shop in Selma from 1960 or the like) are collectible and quite valuable, and I would guess some AA folk do collect them.

But I'm guessing that's not the nature of this merchandise. I would bet that the legit antiques are sold quietly at estate auctions and traded between private collectors without ever seeing a cheesy 'marketplace' run by White Republicans from Indiana.