There's Insensitive, and then there's .... ??

Yesterday, a beloved friend of mine who is also a consummate artist [and about as hip as they come], told me a story, a true story, a story that's been sticking in my craw ever since.

I need to share.

I need to ask if anyone else finds this disturbing.

Ok, so the story is: my beloved friend made an ATC for someone. And this ATC included as part of its decor/theme a sweet little winged fairy clip-art child. Only this fairy happened to be an African American winged fairy clip-art child. You know, a little Black girl, in a pink leotard with green incandescent wings, & a slightly sad face, & really cute ballet slippers on her tootsies, & some awesome brightly-colored tights.

And the recipient told my beloved friend that her use of the Black winged fairy clip-art child was 'insensitive.'

'da fuck? [ ... I know, I don't usually talk like that on my blog, but ... 'da fuck??!! Insensitive? I am so baffled that 'da fuck' is the best my brain could do when I heard this tale, and the best my brain has been doing ever since.]

So, what ... only little white girls get to be legitimate fairy clip-art images, without raising the 'insensitive' brow?

But -- WHY would 'insensitive' even occur, as a brain wave or even a brain fart, upon seeing a clip-art image of a Black child [or an Asian child, a South America child, an Aboriginal child, a Martian child] as a fairy? I'm struggling here, folks. Really really struggling with that. There's politically correct and there's RIDICULOUS! Right? RIGHT?!

I mean, trust me, my nieces Rylee and Taylor-the-T-Bomb will tell you that little Black girls make seriously BAD ASS fairies -- and also firemen, and lady bugs, and Hannah Montanas and paramedics -- won't be any talking them OUT of their convictions. They would in fact think you really strange & pathetic if you attempted to suggest they shouldn't be acting those fantasies out. Or that they didn't have every right to take over those characters. Or that a photo of them in a pink leotard sporting incandescent wings was somehow illegitimate. Or insensitive.

Now, my nieces happen to be mixed-race (again, Black, White, Cherokee, etc.) with beautiful variations of chocolate-shaded skin tones ... so is it the 'white' in them which makes their play-acting legit? I mean, what?

I know, I'm going too far with this. But I'm stuck at 'da fuck?!' and need some help shoving my brain along!