A Beckley store goes viral for selling ‘racist’ dolls

BECKLEY, WV (WVNS)– The owner of the Carpenter’s Loft Primitives & More in Beckley faced backlash after a photo of their merchandise went viral for being racially insensitive.

On Saturday, April 13, 2024, the owner, Paula Thomas, posted a picture on Facebook of the store’s new handmade dolls.

Beckley resident Consuela Phillips said many community members immediately felt the dolls’ depiction was racially offensive.

“It had two pictures of two life-sized dolls that I felt were very inappropriate as a black woman,” said Phillips. “To me, they were two big, black slave-dolls, with very big features- our noses aren’t spread across our face like that- they had dirty looking aprons, and the store owner was standing in the middle of them barefoot with her arms across them, so immediately I was disgusted.”

Phillips felt compelled to reach out to the store owner to share her perspective on the issue, and shared a text exchange between them.

According to Phillips, the messages with Thomas read as follows:

“She said, ‘I’m very disappointed in you for thinking that.’ I said, ‘What else is there to think? Nothing positive that I can share with my children or any other black woman is represented in that life-size slave doll.’ She stated, ‘I’m sorry, that’s in your mind that you believe that, but I believe in diversity and love everyone.’ I said, ‘Where is the diversity if you’re only showing one side of the story?'”

Phillips then soon found out the photos had been taken off Facebook, and that the dolls had already been purchased. Phillips said all she wants is to get her voice out there to raise awareness of this issue.

“I’m here not to promote hate, but just to promote and stand up for something that I believe in. If you’re going to represent us and if you’re going to sell something like that in the community, I feel that she should’ve thought of her black percentage. I don’t judge her, I don’t hate her, I just wanted her to understand my point of view. You can’t tell a black woman how she’s supposed to perceive something like that when there is nothing positive being presented. It’s 2024, it’s time to stand up for what we believe.”

Consuela Phillips

59News reached out to the owner for an interview, but she declined to comment at this time. Originally, the dolls were reportedly bought from a store in Ohio called Hinton Primitives & Christmas Tree Farm.

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