Apr 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Jim Wilkes
Staff Reporter

When the new chocolate-coloured sofa set was delivered to her Brampton home, Doris Moore was stunned to see packing labels describing the shade as "Nigger-brown."

She and husband Douglas purchased a sofa, loveseat and chair in dark brown leather last week from Vanaik Furniture and Mattress store on Dundas St. E.

Moore, 30, who describes herself as an African-American born and raised in New York, said it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out the label just after delivery men from the Mississauga furniture store left.

"She's very curious and she started reading the labels," Moore explained. "She said, `Mommy, what is nig ... ger brown?' I went over and just couldn't believe my eyes."

She said yesterday each piece had a similar label affixed to the woven protective covering wrapped around the furniture.

"In this day and age, that's totally unacceptable," Moore said.

Douglas explained the origins of the word to daughter Olivia, telling how it was a bad name that blacks were called during the days of slavery in the United States.

"It was tough, because she really didn't understand," Moore said. "She'd never heard that word before and didn't really understand the concept of it."

Moore, who has a younger son and daughter, said she's heard the word used many times, although it has never been directed in anger at her.

"But it's a very, very bad word that makes you feel degraded, like you're a nobody," she said.

Moore said she called the furniture store the following day and three other times since, and feels discouraged that no one has returned her calls.

When interviewed yesterday by the Star, Romesh Kumar, Vanaik's assistant manager, passed the buck to his supplier, Cosmos Furniture in Scarborough.

"Why should I take the blame?" he said. "I'm a trader, I don't manufacture. I sell from 20 companies, maybe 50 companies. How can I take care of all of them?"

He said that he would check similar stock and make sure other labels were removed.

"That's terrible, that's a racial ... something?" Kumar said. "This is entirely wrong, but it's not my fault. It's my job to sell good product to people."

He said the best he could do is to give Moore the telephone number of his supplier, so she could take it up with him.

The owner of Cosmos Furniture, Paul Kumar, no relation to Romesh, said he was upset to learn packing labels on products he sold carried a racial epithet.

"I import my products from overseas," he said. "I've never noticed anything like that. This is something new to me."

He passed the blame to a Chinese company, but apologized for the labels. He said he would contact the furniture maker in Guangzhou and demand they remove all similar labels.

Moore said she's not sure she wants the sofa set in her home.

"Every time I sit on it, I'll think of that," she said.



http://www.thestar.com/News/article/200265


The resulting discussion is destined to piss me off.

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Soundclick

Cosmo?... az in... Cosmo Kramer?

werd

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R.I.P. EAZY-E

thats fucked up, but i chuckled when i first saw it, not because its funny using the word or that the word itself is funny...but because its something you'd never expect on a label like that, but yea, thats pretty gay and shit, oh and i wouldnt care if i bought beans and it said "the spic-kind for your enjoyment", or a new lightbulb package said "guarenteed to make your house cracker-white", before everyone gets all "oh how would it feel if they did that to you" type shit, and i wouldnt feel a thing =/, people should be able to ignore racial slurs and just laugh at the other persons ignorance, they'll get whats coming to them sooner or later

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yes actually most people would care if a label said "spic" or "cracker-white"... and what's the first thing that comes to mind when you see the word "nigger"? not racial slur, but slavery... its completely different, when are people gonna realize THAT? history DOES matter.

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^what about black people saying it to each other? i guess slavery is brought up everytime an emcee uses the n word?

you act like black people are the only race to go through slavery or suffer in mass amounts, if you cry/bitch and moan over someone using a racial slur against you you're weak imo

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Aw mayne...there's been cases like this before..

White people back in the day used to call Dark-brown as "nigger-brown"..and it was a normal thing...but if they still packaging that shit now?>...that's outta order nah mean..It's stupid

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....suck a dick faggot.....

I think of the blackies getting out of control.

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You can't really call a person weak just because they feel differently than you do about something that you personally may not have experienced. the same shyt that pisses you off might not offend me and vice versa.... If somebody wants to be a racist... great... just don't put that shyt in my face... keep it behind closed doors and under ya "protective superhater sheets"... and behind ya "I can't get past slavery or the holocaust shields" even though you didn't personally go through it... It's cool to learn from what's happened in the past... perpetuating it and just being straight up ignorant is another story...

My skin is thicker than most and it takes a lot to get me all up in arms and shyt... but that whole "Nigger-Brown" shyt is an insult to ALL people of color. Directing an insult at an individual is totally different than when you say some shit addressing an entire race of people.

Whoever authorized, manufactured, and came up with the idea for those labels needs their asses whooped royaly... damn a NAACP.... put them bitches in the squared circle for a minute with each individual that felt disrespected by that phrase... Hell, the Asian community gets pissed off if they are referred to as Oriental... They don't want to be classified as "things".... but if the dudes story checks out and the product was actually imported from China... then they are guilty of commiting the same shyt that they won't tolerate themselves... the world is a fucked up place... and some people will never change ... passing that same bullshyt on to the future generations

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CLICK DA SIGGY

Your honest intellectualism pisses me off and I about had it with you ^

lol...werd... i don't know... i just basically see things as right or wrong with no real room for an in between... people make shyt a lot harder than what it has to be... just do the right fucking thing... shyt... skin should not be an issue... at the end of the day there's really only one race... human

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CLICK DA SIGGY

....



You just don't know when to quit do you

lmao... hell to da nahhhh... yo... what movie is that in ya sig?.... that shyt is sick...

ps... my wisdom is infinite... omma redo all the bazooka joe comics with IG's werdz of wisdom

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CLICK DA SIGGY

Silent hill, play the games too. Silent hill series= God jr