Kansas City, Mo — A Kansas City activist Wednesday asked local stores not to carry a G.I. Joe figure modeled after police in Cincinnati where conflicts between officers and blacks have led to race riots. At least one store temporarily removed the toy from shelves.
Alonzo Washington said the toy could increase tensions between the black community and police after a Kansas City officer Sunday shot a black teen-ager who allegedly pointed a BB gun at a passing patrol car.
He said Hasbro, the toy's maker, could have modeled the figure after a less controversial police force. Cincinnati police are under federal investigation after an unarmed black man was fatally shot by a white officer, triggering the April riots.
"I think it's a bad corporate policy for companies to endorse that sort of action," he said. "To me, modeling an action figure after someone is an honor especially with what they're supposed to stand for."
Washington, who owns a company that makes black action figures, said he sent a letter to officials at Osco Drugs, Toys'R'Us, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Kay-Bee and Walgreens asking them not to stock the G.I. Joe on store shelves.
The toy, which is modeled after a Cincinnati motorcycle officer's uniform and features the city's river and crown insignia, went on sale last summer, said Audrey Desimone, a spokeswoman for Pawtucket, R.I.,-based Hasbro.
In a statement later Wednesday, the company said it hadn't received any complaints about the toy, which "was developed in the year 2000, when the G.I. Joe design team was based in Cincinnati."
"To ensure the authenticity of a general police uniform and motorcycle, the G.I. Joe design team utilized the Cincinnati police department as a resource. The figure is not marketed as an official replica of any individual police department."
The toy, "G.I. Joe Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Police Bike and Figure," depicts a uniformed white officer atop a motorcycle.
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