Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Good Ol' Days....


Racism, just like I pictured it, sambos and everything, only $79.00...thanks Fab.com!

Tribal Highball Glasses Set Of 4

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Sometimes the good ol' days are, well, good.  Buying vinyl records, old cars, heirloom jewelry, classic furniture or any antique can inspire nostalgic feelings. Nostalgia has its place.  But you have to admit, the prevailing racial attitudes of those good ol' days were just a wee bit discriminatory.  Lynching, marginalization, rampant disenfranchisement, assassination of leadership (physically or character-wise), jim crow, de facto racism, rape, murder and so on...were acceptable forms of treatment against African Americans in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and  20th centuries.  For the purposes of keeping this post brief, we won't go into specifics.  Race issues have admittedly improved over the last decade or so (Biracial POTUS, the culmination of lots of hard work and sacrifice).   However, every so often (damn near daily), something reminds me that racial vigilance must continue.  On my Facebook page, I see the above Fab.com listing pasted by a friend, who characterized this listing as "hipster racism"...code for a type of racism propagated by so-called urban (mostly European) dwellers who typically gentrify a neighborhood, living in diverse neighborhoods.  This you'd think would foster some racial understanding, right? What it fosters is a false sense of comfort, that this so-called hipster can take for granted that being cool supersedes cultural competency and understanding.  The folks at Fab.com can take solace that they've allowed their true colors (and cultural competency) to shine through.  Feel free to click the link and give them a piece of your mind (I'm sure this link won't last too long, or not).
UPDATE 7/24 11:40am CT:  The below link no longer takes you to the Fab.com post...apparently someone @ fab.com got the message...let's see if there's some sort of mea culpa from the folks @ "Fab".
UPDATE 8/3 11:12am CT:  Fab has basically dropped the issue.  A call to the Fab client services department resulted in being placed on hold several times, then connected with a media coordinator named Katie, who personally apologized and said she took the matter personally, (missed opportunity to ask her if she was black, ugh!), then I explained that a global apology would be the appropriate way to handle the matter, she said she would bring it to her "team" - (whoever they are).  Up to now, no known global apology posted on site.  Racist Tribal Highball Glasses on Fab.com

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