BRIAN ROSS REPORTS
- Like Jay-Z + the Beatles, But Worse
- Update: Help for Homeless Children
- Bush Era, Revised -- and with More Barbeque
- The Tax Woman Cometh
- Paging Mr. Stanford: Antigua Called
- Who Are You Calling Partisan?
- Update: IRS Won't Use Private Debt Collectors
- But Is It Art?
- PMA Scandal a Sore Point for Dems in 2010?
- Down in Flames
- A New Mystery for RNC Chief
- PMA Clients Were Big Givers
- Raided Lobby Firm Still a Force on Capitol Hill
- Stanford Update: Another $143 Mil Found
- Cheney, Hooked on Controversy
TOP BLOTTER CATEGORIES
- Abramoff Lobbying Scandal
- American Al Qaeda
- Avian Flu
- Beirut Hospital Out of Gas
- Cheney
- CIA
- CIA Secret Prisons
- D.C. Madam Affair
- FBI
- Federal Air Marshal Service
- Homeland Security
- Hurricane Katrina
- IRS
- Mark Foley Internet Scandal
- Millionaire Sex Scandal
- Nigerian E-mail Scams
- Norman Hsu, Clinton Fundraiser
- NSA: Wiretapping
- Osama bin Laden
- Payola
- Pharmacy Investigation
- PMA
- Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert
- Stanford
- Steele
- Terror
- Troopergate
- U.K. Airline Terror Plot
- U.K. Bombing Attempts
- Wen Ho Lee
- William Jefferson
- Zarqawi
« Previous | Main | Next »
A Couch Don Imus Should Avoid
Email
Print
ShareApril 11, 2007 10:45 AM
While all of America may be talking about the slurs of radio shock jock Don Imus, Canada is dealing with its own outrageous race scandal. But unlike Imus, no one's taken responsibility for the Canadian fiasco, which introduced a young girl to the "N" word that she had been lucky enough never to have heard before.
ABC News spoke to Doris and Douglas Moore of Toronto about what happened when they purchased a set of dark brown couches for $1300 and were told the couches were high-quality imports from Italy. But when they arrived, her 7-year-old daughter made a startling discovery. On the shipping label, next to "color," it read: Ni**er-Brown.
Doris Moore says she was in the kitchen when her daughter called out, "Mommy, what's ni**er brown?"
Doris, who is originally from Ghana, says she didn't believe her daughter at first and went to look at the label herself to confirm. When her daughter asked her the meaning of the word again, she was forced to explain a painful word that she had hoped to shield her daughter from as long as possible. She says her daughter "had never heard the word before. Never," not even in schoolyard taunts.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
So far, no one has wanted to take responsibility for the slur. Moore immediately called the furniture store, Vanaik, from where she and her husband purchased the couches, but received no response. So she contacted a local television station, Toronto's City News, who tracked down the store manager. He told a reporter from the station he was sorry for the label but blamed the supplier, Paul Kumar of Toronto-based Cosmos Furniture, who also ships furniture to the United States. In media reports, Kumar said that the label was placed by the manufacturer, located in China, not Italy.
Kumar told ABC News that he spoke to the manufacturer and that the mistake was made "out of innocence." The slur was a translation problem with the labeling software, he said, but he declined to name the software used. He also said he didn't know how many other pieces of furniture his company may have sold with the racial epithet on the label.
Doris Moore has filed a formal complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the family is considering suing both the store and the supplier. If the OHRC finds the stores guilty of violating the Moore's civil rights, they could face fines.
Doris Moore says that despite the public apologies, neither the store owner or the supplier have contacted them to offer a refund or even a personal apology, something her husband, Douglass finds completely unacceptable. "People have to be made accountable for this," he says.
He sees a parallel in his family's situation and the fallout from the Don Imus racial controversy here in the U.S. "In this day in age, when is this going to end?" he asks. "It's 2007."
April 11, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (195)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
For God sake. Just in USA that word is an offense: in Spanish you say Niegro, in Portuguese you say Negro, in French you say Noir, no problem at all. Means Black that's the collor of the Sofa, you dont have problems, you create problems
Posted by: Margarida | Apr 11, 2007 1:22:32 PM
If people would stop screaming racism at every little thing - this "racial profiling" wouldn't exist. If you say "Negro" its now racist - but it's also Spanish for black!
Posted by: Jessica | Apr 11, 2007 1:27:24 PM
IMO Imus crossed the line and this lady wants a free couch.
Posted by: RealityBites | Apr 11, 2007 1:28:52 PM
accident? come on man, and there are only a few of these pieces that are like this. im only 22 years old but im not stupid. either that was a badly soured prank by an employee or this company new that these pieces were leaving out like this. If they didnt know, well then they should pay better attention because these are million dollar errors.
Posted by: anthony mitchell | Apr 11, 2007 1:29:16 PM
Maybe the people who are up in arms and screaming racism, hate, etc. should stop using these words to describe each other first. You cant own words within your race or "culture" and forbid others to use them. Change starts within your own communities.
Posted by: Miguel | Apr 11, 2007 1:30:27 PM
Maybe the people who are up in arms and screaming racism, hate, etc. should stop using these words to describe each other first. You cant own words within your race or "culture" and forbid others to use them. Change starts within your own communities.
Posted by: Miguel | Apr 11, 2007 1:31:35 PM
Well of course if this lady doesn't like the term *** brown she could always go back to Ghana. Of course the idea of making some money out of little work wouldn't be clouding this lady's feelings just a little.
As I understand it a certain ewthnic group use the *** word quite regularly, and they are not white anglo saxon. Usually you can find their origins in Africa, and I bet she isn't going to sue them.
Posted by: Chris | Apr 11, 2007 1:31:37 PM
It was just a label. Nothing had shown that racism had been related to it. This is the America, people should be able to say anything they want to say as they have the constitutional right for "Freedom of Speech". I think most of the people are sick and tired of being "Politically Correct" !!! At least I am !!!
Posted by: Mike | Apr 11, 2007 1:31:40 PM
WOW. Sounds like it was an honest mistake, but someone needs to step up and make this right with the family and get a recall of all other such labeled furniture.
However, I do think it would not be right for this family to sue for profit. Make them accountable, but don't try to get rich from this!
God help humanity...
Posted by: Randy James | Apr 11, 2007 1:32:58 PM
yes, its 2007. i had a 12th grade civic social problems teather in 1959 tell the class that it will only stop when there is a complete amalgamation of the races. i happen to be 66 now & we have things that are politically corect to say, but that really changes nothing.
Posted by: barnes | Apr 11, 2007 1:33:14 PM
Racists all deserve to be punished. This is just not something to shrug at.
Posted by: kim | Apr 11, 2007 1:35:46 PM
cry me a river a mile wide & a mile deep it's just a word, doesn't anybody remember the old saying...sticks & stone may break my bones but names will never hurt me, GET OVER IT!!!!
Posted by: DAVE | Apr 11, 2007 1:36:03 PM
This sounds like an innocent mistake that someone is making an issue out of, probably looking for money.
Posted by: Seah Haggerty | Apr 11, 2007 1:37:27 PM
Why does everyone have to be so mortally offended these days.
Being one who has their sexual orientation constantly degraged, I can understand the hurt, but, get over yourselves.
You must always know that those who do these things have the problem, not you. Rise above their level, hold up your head, and quit whining.
Posted by: Todd | Apr 11, 2007 1:39:12 PM
It may be an intentional racial slur, but I am not sure. After all, there is a country in Africa called "Niger," which means "black" in Latin. So the offensive term could be a misspelling of the original Latin term meaning "black," rather than a racial slur. It depends on the context.
Posted by: George | Apr 11, 2007 1:41:19 PM
Refund????? Give me a break. Is the sofa what they wanted? Remove the tag and move on. This is just plain cashing in on the Imus hype...they should be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by: Tom | Apr 11, 2007 1:43:43 PM
Here we go again! Yet still nothing being said about the black lady calling the banker on Deal or No Deal a cracker on Monday night. Outrageous!
Posted by: Jeff | Apr 11, 2007 1:46:59 PM
Why should the store be held resposible for something they did not put in place and probably never saw? Why does someone have to be held accountable for hurting your feelings? Some things just happen, and not everyone is out to get you.
Posted by: Get over it | Apr 11, 2007 1:59:53 PM
I can see where this could be a glitch of some sort. Wasn't there a crayola crayon years ago 'niger brown'?
Posted by: debi | Apr 11, 2007 2:00:20 PM
Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that somewhere in this young girl's life she will either hear or at least know the heritage of the word, including the way modern black society is allowed to use the "word" but heaven forbid anyone ELSE in the rest of the world use it.
Posted by: Equality should prevail | Apr 11, 2007 2:01:09 PM
Post a comment
