Black Illinois car mechanic outraged after finding racist 'Blackface doll' slipped in his toolbox: report

On Friday, KMOV reported that a Black auto mechanic in St. Clair County, Illinois is alleging a coworker slipped a racist figurine into his toolbox.

"The African American mechanic says a white doll’s face desecrated in Blackface was put in his toolbox at America’s Auto Center in Centreville," reported KMOV's Melanie Johnson. "'The doll was all white and they painted the face black,' Donovan Hickman, the victim, said. 'The initials WP was on it which stands for white power.'"

The practice of blackface has a long and ugly, history dating back to just after the Civil War era, with white actors painting their faces black in minstrel shows to dehumanize and stereotype Black people.

According to the report, America's Auto Center "says they are investigating what happened and has implemented sensitivity training for all employees."

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The company is also mandating diversity training and has offered Hickman a new position, although he said, “A different position is not going to fix nothing.”

According to Hickman, he has been targeted in the past, with one person greasing his door handle, and another coworker giving him a lighter depicting a monkey with a banana.