Vanishing Black Kings

Black male Barbie dolls are becoming extinct. Whenever I walk down the toy aisle at Toys R Us, Target, or Walmart, I can never find them. Stores used to have a whole bunch of them. Now they are almost impossible to find. You now have to order them online or go to a specific type of store. I have plenty of Ken dolls at home, but not a lot of Black Ken dolls. I am not racist, but I would like a doll that looks like me!

Now when I walk down the street, I never see children with Black male Barbies. I’m not saying that it’s wrong, but I never see other races buying them. I love all dolls of different races, but I would really want to see more black male Barbies.

I feel like the Mattel Company is just not paying attention on how dramatically the percentage of Ken dolls of color have dropped!  It seems like they don’t even exist. I rarely see them. I used to get my Barbies from Target, Walmart and Toys R Us. They mostly have all the toys that I want, but they don’t have Black Ken dolls anymore. Normally I would see them, but  this time they were all gone. At first I thought that they were all  bought  up. So I looked for their rack, only to find out that they never made it into the store. I was shocked.

I remembered a time when there were many male and female Black Barbie and Ken dolls, but that ship has sailed far, far, far, away. They are no longer here. It feels like they are no longer in existence, but I know that that’s not true. Occasionally I find a Black male Ken doll,  but  it’s not an  everyday  experience. I miss seeing the Black Ken doll,I  know that they will come back soon....someday I hope.

Janvier Richardson is a 6th grade student at Blow Pierce Jr. Academy.