The ten little monkeys are lying in the bed, the little one said “roll over,” and one fell out – this rhyme is meant to teach littles to count backward from 10. An alternate version: "Catch a negro by his toe/ If he hollers make him pay/Twenty dollars every day." Counting-out rhymes, like this one, were popular decision-making tools for children years ago and are still used today. “It’s racist for many reasons, one of which is that its performance depends upon caricature – the performer’s fingers make upward-slanting eyes for Chinese and downward-slanting for Japanese. Then and now give them credit for changing the tune those are the dark ages. In 2004, two African-American sisters filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines after a flight attendant tried to rush them into choosing a seat saying, “Eenie, meenie, minie, mo, pick a seat, we gotta go.” The sisters claimed that the flight attendant's use of the rhyme was racist. Ian Haney Lopez tells the compelling story of the Chicano movement in Los Angeles by following two criminal trials, including one arising from the student walkouts. The legacy of this fundamental shift continues to this day.
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