Does it really matter if Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben get retired?

The big broom of history has been clearing out the rubble this month, furiously sweeping away at some of the most enduring racist symbols still in American stores and restaurants.

►The Aunt Jemima pancake mix brand got brushed into the dustbin after 131 years when its owner, Quaker Oats, acknowledged it was based on a racial stereotype.

►Sambo’s restaurant in Santa Barbara, California, the last store in a chain that started in 1957, dropped its name after being pressured to account for the racist history behind it.

►Uncle Ben’s rice, Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup and Cream of Wheat porridge also have used imagery that has connoted smiling Black servitude to white masters. Those stereotyped images are being changed or reviewed, according to the companies that own those brands – all part of a corporate reckoning that experts say has been a long time coming.