WHATS NOW ? MR ARTWELL KAKATALIWA KUHOJIWA NA BBC 'KISA KAVAA MDOLI SHINGONI AMBAE NI KAMA TUSI KWETU SISI WEUSI ''YANI IM SO GLAD BBC REFUSED TO INTERVIEW HIM WITH IT'' PEOPLE LIKE THIS ONE ARE JUST BLACK PEOPLE PROBLEM EVERYDAY ''WHY DONT HE GO WITH IT IN AFRICA AND SEE HOW PEOPLE AFRICAN WILL THINK HE IS NOTHING BUT A WITCH '' YANI WATAMPIGA MPAKA NA MAWE HASWAA'' MBUTA NANGA'' NYIE MNAONAJE JAMANI ? IS IT POWA MTU MZIMA IN UK KUVAA HIVI ALAFU AKAHOJIWE KWENYE TV ? RUWA MANGI''

The BBC refused to air an interview with campaigner Chaka Artwell because he was wearing a 'racist' golliwog doll around his neck'

Mr Artwell said that 'white, middle-class liberal types' had decided his doll was racist and offensive.

'When I was growing up in this country, this guy was a popular figure,' he said.

'Then, without anyone asking me if I was offended by it, people decided I was offended by it.

'People pick and chose what they want to highlight. This is ridiculous.'

Mr Artwell, who organised talks and debates to mark Black History Month in Oxford in October, added: 'Tom asked me to remove my friend and I said 'why?' 

'He told me it would distract from my story and I said I didn't think it would because I am a passionate speaker.

HEBU MUONENI APA PICHANI ''MTU MZIMA HOVYOOOO'' MBUTA NANGA' Mr Artwell was set to be interviewed for BBC News about a campaign to save Temple Cowley Pools in Oxford'

'He said he would not do the interview unless I removed my dear friend, and I am really upset about it.'

BBC spokesman Meera Hindocha said: 'We asked him to remove the large doll because it would distract viewers in a discussion about a local swimming pool and some viewers may have found it offensive.

'When he refused to do so we used another contributor.' 

Nigerian-born Oxford City Councillor Ben Lloyd-Shogbesan said he 'did not have a clue' where Mr Artwell was coming from.

He said: 'Personally I find this image offensive because I think it demeans the image of black people.

'I think he was trying to make a point but on the wrong basis and I think it shows a lack of sensitivity to people who don't like that image.

'I would have said to him 'you might not find it offensive, but a lot of people do - so maybe find another medium to have that conversation?'.'

GOLLIWOGS: AN ENDURING SYMBOL OF RACISM?

  A golliwog doll

The gollywog or golly first emerged as black character in children's books in the late 19th century and is usually depicted as a rag doll.

Golliwog dolls were named after a blackface minstrel-like character in Florence Kate Upton and Bertha Upton's 1895 book. 

Featured prominently in Enid Blyton's Noddy stories, the toys were enormously popular in England and elsewhere in the first half of the 20th century.

They fell out of fashion around the start of the civil rights era in the 1960s.

After the publication of Upton's first book, the term 'golliwog' (and 'wog') was used both as a reference to the children's toy and as a derogatory slang term for black people.

The golliwog was adopted by jam company Robertson's as its symbol and continued to be used until the Greater London Council banned Robertson's products from its jurisdiction in 1983 over growing controversy that the doll was a racist symbol. 

The company dropped the character from television adverts in 1988.

In recent years, images of gollies have become controversial, with some believing they are an enduring symbol of racism against people of African descent. 

IM SO GLAD WAMEMKATALIA KUMHOGI ''YANI WELL DONE BBC
TUMECHOTA NA KUMIMINA KUTOKA DM ILI MJIONEE''