Aunt Jemima has long been seen as the face of a brand of pancake mix and accompanying bottles of syrup. That face was once portrayed by live people who dressed up in the headscarf, blouse and skirt to appear like a slave, similar to the image on the mix boxes and syrup bottles. Now, they show Jemima with a more modern look, with a prim and proper white collar, shortened hair and pearl earrings, a far cry from the slave image stereotype that was created in 1889.

A few days ago, it was announced that Aunt Jemima is being “retired,” with plans for the new name and rebranding to take place around October, due to the brand’s history of being associated with stereotypes of black people in slavery. Soon after, the makers of Uncle Ben’s rice announced they would be taking similar steps with its black representative for the same reason.

Jemima’s about to get erased from the syrup bottle forever, but it’s not in the name of cultural reparations and turning us into a more civilized society. This is all in the name of cancel culture, a rather swift and brutal form of political correctness.

Sadly, political correctness does not employ the practice of drawing curtains around an object of ire and simply covering it up in practicing its dark art. Oh, no. Instead, political correctness prefers to whip out a bottle of acid and spray it on that object, causing hideous disfigurement and unforgettable pain in its erasure of something deemed “offensive” and beyond the pale.

We live in a rather volatile time period, and many people are angry over the deaths of George Floyd and other black people at the hands of the police. That is perfectly justified. Extending that rage to imagery that once was offensive but was cleaned up to serve as a tribute to black people, however, does not reach the same level. In this case, we’re doing more harm to black people than good.

The current image of Jemima on the syrup bottles is not at all like the original, showing a caricature of a female black slave cooking up pancakes. Then, in 1989, Quaker Oats decided to put an end to the slave image and turned her into a run-of-the-mill woman. A Chicago Tribune story described her as a ”young grandmother,” a ”working mother” or ”someone active in the church.” A rather wholesome thing for some to aspire to be.

The only thing remaining from the original packaging is the name, though, and that’s what has caused the tizzy. Being “Aunt Jemima” is seen as offensive and out of step with modern society, but instead of potentially updating the name to simply Jemima or Aunt Jem or something else, some people prefer to see the name as continued victimization of black society, and that indicates of a preference for remaining a victim and shrugging a shoulder to truly being free.

To me, that’s true slavery.

Erasing the Aunt Jemima name from modern society does more than end an era. There are many women who portrayed the physical embodiment of Aunt Jemima, and the descendants of some of those people are none too happy that cancel culture is trying to erase their family legacies, too.

Nancy Green was born as a slave in 1834 in Kentucky, but she became the original Aunt Jemima in the 1890s and made a killing as the first living trademark. She put on the outfit, complete with red headscarf and served breakfast as Jemima, continuing for over 30 years until her death in 1923. The gig kept a woman alive and paid, but now people want to erase Jemima, and Green’s legacy with it.

In 1935, Anna Short Harrington became the aunt who flips flapjacks, and her grandson, Larnell Evans, said on the website www.themix.net that she became a celebrity as her image was put on all the products and she was sent across the country to serve pancakes. Once again, another erasure of a black woman who made a living imitating an icon on a package of food.

I also came across a story about Lillian Richards, a Texas black woman who served as Aunt Jemima. Her descendant, Vera Harris, described her as a goodwill ambassador, and a television report says that she’s recognized in her community of Forney on a historic marker. Will the foes of Aunt Jemima topple that marker in a similar fashion to statues of Confederate leaders and soldiers simply because they’re obsessed with a name holding so much power over them?

A black icon for over a century is about to be whitewashed from our society. It’s ironic that, as the black community asks for more representation in media, in products, in society in general, we’re so quick to tie Aunt Jemima to the train tracks in the hopes of not being offensive to that community. However, it looks like at least two famous names (remember Uncle Ben faces the same fate) will not be going gently into that good night.

Score another one for political correctness.