Talk:Tar Baby/@comment-4656846-20180328050152

Ironically, the Tar Baby, as it's used in this film, is not racist, as it's literally a baby doll made out of tar and not a real person. The Br'er Rabbit stories are folklore passed down by American slaves and I believe the tar baby was in the original stories.

Before "tar baby" became a widely-known racial slur, it was even used as slang to mean "a sticky situation" because of this folk tale.

Is the rest of the movie racist? Yes. But this character? Not really.