I feel that this is a rather narrow way of looking at things: just because people within your social circle weren't offended by Rougela (Jynx) doesn't negate the possibility that others among the millions of African Americans and people of African descent in general might've been. And clearly at least one person [Carole Boston Weatherford] was, and while she's not the authority on African Americans, I feel that her opinion on the matter at least had some merit and was worth considering.
It's not a narrow view, but an informed one, and I am the only black Pokémon fan in any of my social circles, so it has nothing to do with who I know, but what I've looked into.
Weatherford's criticism was flawed, to say the least, not to mention offensive in its own rite. She compared Jynx to Little Black Sambo, despite the two characters having only one seemingly similar trait: black skin. Originally, Jynx didn't have any facial skin at all, the blackness actually being a dark veil of shadow. Her hands were even designed to look as though she was wearing gloves. It wasn't until the color was changed to purple that the character was displayed as having fully physical skin, and this is primarily in the anime, for in the games she still maintains her veil of shadow, especially underneath her dress, where her feet would be. Furthermore, Jynx's lips do not at all resemble the shape and absurdity of the blackface depictions in minstrel shows. Her lips were and are specifically designed to look like she is always puckering for a kiss. Blackface-style lips are entirely round with no definition whatsoever.
Finally, Weatherford mockingly compared Jynx to an "obese drag queen" in an article she wrote for
The Christian Science Monitor, a newspaper that while not actually a display of religious doctrine, still hasn't had the best track record with advocating for the queer community, given its frequent publication of articles that all but conspicuously suggest the existence of a "gay agenda." This was even more prevalent in 2000, the year Weatherford wrote the article.
Weatherford not only took a narrow view
of her own to shun a fictional character whose alleged crime wasn't anywhere near as close as the original incarnation of DBZ's Mr. Popo, but she shunned an entire other marginalized group in the process. While she has since become a better ally for the queer community, I do not trust any words she made on Jynx during that time, for not a single one was well founded.
So yes, I stand with my
unpopular opinion that Jynx was and continues to be unfairly treated.