Sunday, October 13, 2019

If you meet racism at the store, do you call it out?



After a reader I'm calling Kris told me about her experience at her local big box office supply store, I found myself double-checking the store's online site to see if what Kris reported could possibly be true. While having copies made at the store, Kris noticed a display of items intended for use on an office desk. One of the items was one of those wooden blocks about a foot long and four or five inches high that have an inspirational word or quote on them.

But Kris found nothing inspirational about the saying on this block. Instead, there were words designed to capture an ethnic dialect in what presumably was deemed to be an amusing desk accoutrement. The deliberately exaggerated dialogue reminded Kris of the kinds of taunts schoolyard bullies would use against those kids who were somehow different from them.

"I was surprised that any place would carry such an item," writes Kris. Once her copying order was completed, Kris paid for it and left the store. But she couldn't get that sign out of her mind. "What should I have done?"

After Kris told me of her experience, I searched for items with that saying on the office supply store's website. I didn't find the block, but I did find a coffee mug with the same saying on it. A further search online turned up a sign similar to the one Kris had described available at a well-known discount department store. Still further searches found all sorts of imprinted wearables available with the same saying.

Kris was right to be upset. I wrestled with whether or not to repeat the saying in print, but ultimately decided that putting a phrase that struck both Kris and me as insensitive and racist in print was inappropriate.

When she was at the store, Kris could have asked to speak with a manager to express her concern. It's doubtful that the individual store manager has control over the entire chain's inventory, but he or she does have the power to shepherd concerns of customers to those who might do something to address them. But Kris has already left the store.

If she is truly troubled by the sign and she indicates that she is, the right thing to do is to articulate that concern to the corporate offices of the chain. If she snapped a photo with her smartphone of the item, all the better to send it to the company. If that yields no response, she might consider enlisting the help of friends and others equally offended to write the company. If she still receives no response from the company, then Kris might consider taking her concern to the local press.

Calling people out on racist actions is the right thing to do. Calling out the people at companies who make decisions that can be deemed to be racist is also the right thing to do. Having had my attention drawn to these items by Kris, I plan to make some calls myself. There's no excuse for items promoting racist tropes to be peddled to the public nor for the rest of us to condone them. 


Follow him on Twitter: @jseglin

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(c) 2019 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

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