“Barnes & Noble would like to publicly apologize for what happened in our Coral Gables, Florida store. We believe that a customer played a cruel joke and placed an inappropriate title in the front window of our store, where we were featuring books written by or about President Obama. We want to assure our customers that the book placed by someone other than our booksellers was never intended to be included in our display and was removed as soon as we became aware of the situation. We are looking into it and are taking the steps necessary so that it does not happen again. From time to time customers will move titles from one area of the store to another. In this particular case, we do not condone whatever message may have been intended with the placement of this title in our Presidential display. It certainly was not part of our merchandising and we regret that we didn’t see the placement of this title immediately.” Mary Ellen Keating, Spokesperson Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Really now!? hmmmm
afrospear.wordpress.com 
Call me naive, but I doubt the bookstore would put themselves in that position. It’s not that I think all the employees love black folks. I do think they are like most folks though: people who need their jobs. I think a more likely scenario is that someone other than an employee wanted to stir the pot and the perpetrator fully expected the black community to cry foul.
Honestly, when do we decide that someone is purposely trying to pull our chain?
If I got upset everytime someone said or did something stupid, I’d be a candidate for a stroke or a heart attack.
This was pure sensationalism.
I have one question; I’ve seen window displays at Barnes & Noble and it is not easy to get to those displays without going through some sort of barrier or going behind the cashier’s desk. So, I am not buying the story that a customer did this without the knowledge of the empoyees! If an employee did it, then corporate is still responsible.
So, yes, an employee did it and the corporation is trying to escape responsibility and clean up their image. This is disrespectful to all Americans, specifically to Black Americans and in particular to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
There is no apology that can assuage Barnes and Nobles responsibility.
BULL! one of their employees did that and they’re trying not to take any responsibility for it. ugh.
such a waste of brain space on such juvenile shit.
Cora, when I first saw this and read the story, my first thought was that this is “pure sensationalism”. I do believe that it was an employee who did it and it was done to manufacture a controversy. Yes… they were trying, as you call it, “to pull our chain”! It’s like an arsonist or “copycat” killer. The purpose or the thrill isn’t in the act itself, but the response of the community and more importantly the media attention.
These incidents are indeed, to coin a phrase, “such juvenile shit.”
So whether it was an employee or not, was it worth getting worked up about? And that is my point, hmmm.
Your all caps is exactly what the jerk wanted. Sorry, the act is anti-climatic and not newsworthy.
Whether you believe it’s “anti-climatic and not newsworthy” isn’t really the point. The point is that it did make the news for that’s where I read the story.
The second point is that even though I agree this is “pure senationalism”, this act in itself speaks volumes to the overall psyche of the American and eurocentric dominant culture. It’s a reminder, a re-inforcement (and for some a trigger), that the Obama Beige Revolution is itself “pure sensationalism”, and we are still considered sub-human.
Actually, as one who used to work in retail and do displays, stores have strict rules from corporate as to how displays are completed. I doubt seriously if the Barnes and Noble store would risk ANY kind of reprimands from corporate just to “send a message”. However, a dumb cluck passer by or patron of the store has no allegiances to anybody; therefore, it would be quite easy to slip a hand into the display and change a few things. Anyway you look at it, it shows how far we’ve come as a country, but also how far we have to go.
asabagna,
There’s only one point, yours? If you had already decided how the image and story was to be viewed, why didn’t you say that up front?
I thought you posted the image and readers were free to share their point of view.
It was not clear to me that you wanted a shout from the Amen choir.
“There’s only one point, yours?” True
“I thought you posted the image and readers were free to share their point of view.” Yep and you have
“It was not clear to me that you wanted a shout from the Amen choir.” Amen!
Just yesterday, I saw a title in the London news paper, the title was “Obama is not our Saviour, he does not deserve Brown visit!” It is disturbing to see the blatant racism of Europe!Prime Minister Brown was the first European Leader to pay visit to H.E President Obama since inauguration, Prime Minister Brown has always opposed anyone who would make comments about Immigrants, I wish there were more like him, no matter how they try to criticise him, he is a Man of morality and deep respect for all Human regardless of Race, Religion or culture.
The only thing more insulting and demeaning than the display is the ridiculous, transparent, and vulgar explanation offered for its origin by Barnes and Noble. Amazon.com seems a refreshing and cheaper alternative for book purchases.
BARACK OBAMA IS HERE TO STAY!!!!!!
I think that this was done on “PURPOSE” and “IN HOUSE”! I was completly out raged but mostly sadden by the entire situation. It is my belief that this type of ignorant behavior is destroying our country!! I wish people could just deal with the fact that OUR PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IS HERE TO STAY!!!!
This is hurtful and cruel to the Obama children. They do not deserve to be treated with this kind of hatred.
If someone put this there in a rush to not be seen it is sitting perfectly on the display like it was put there by an employee.
I have been several Barnes and Nobel stores across the country and they can have a few high brow – snide acting employees. I am not sure what the attitude is all about but it is pervasive in these stores. I don’t patronize the big book stores. I stick to the smaller ones.
There are in store cameras – if they want to know who did it they can find out…..
I think it should be obvious that either Rush or George Bush did this horrendously evil act.
Is Obama A Jew?
After all Jews are displayed as apes and pigs all over the world on a daily basis….
and yet no one gives a hoot…
actually, Omitunde, surprisingly not all Barnes & Noble stores have cameras. if this store had a camera i am quite sure they would have put the video out to clear their name.
Whoa! I am just now seeing this & tripping out. Not surprised but damn!
My daughter used to manage a bookstore, not a B&N, but she tends to go to bookstores and comes away critiquing their set-ups. I asked her about this and she said yes, it’s possible that a customer did it especially if it happened on the side of the store that’s not by the cash registers. She also said that even on the side by the cash registers, if clerks were checking customers out, they may not notice anyone slipping into the window display.
Customers do all kinds of things in bookstores. They had to run off a couple in their 50s after another customer came and reported they were having sex in the back of the store. Indeed, they were. (New Jersey)
And I will tell you after working in an airport and seeing white guys shoot video of baggage handlers without being questioned, a white person would not be questioned messing with a display the way a black person would. An employee could have noticed a white person slipping from behind the window display and would have assumed they were simply getting a book. White people don’t get followed in stores, black people do.
Barnes & Noble has a huge black books section so they understand one color for sure and that’s “green.” This kind of publicity is not the kind they want for the chain.
Nevertheless, having worked in PR, if I were the store and thought an employee did it but couldn’t identify which one, I’d blame a customer. And I’d have been mad as hell that I had to write a news release to explain such nonsense in the first place.
Yet, I live in Louisiana, in the south with Florida, where I could easily see a teenage customer doing something like this. It’s juvenile. I could also see an adult Rush Limbaugh supporter or Klan sympathizer doing something like this, whether he/she works for B&N or not, because it’s juvenile.
Some white people are angry about Obama being in office. I know a woman who was asked to remove her Obama T-shirt at work because she was offending some of the patients at a medical facility. Racist backlash is giving way to blatant racist expression and Obama animosity on the rise not decline because some of the majority fear that they are losing control.
They imagine that a black person in charge puts whites in jeopardy because they believe eye an eye and tooth for a tooth and cannot fathom if they had been treated the way black people have been and are being treated in this country that they would later come into power and not think it’s time for payback. If people hate you, they believe if you have a brain you will hate them back.
This B&N story was worth a blog post because we need to remember that “post-racial” America is a myth and that’s true whether an employee did or the Jolly Green Giant.
Racism or not, I would not mind being in that monkey’s family right now. Obama’s the smartest monkey those racist jerks ever seen. I also wouldn’t mind making that monkey’s salary. Instead of trying to stir up some bull s–t, I wonder if the person that committed this act is doing anything positive to contribute to the mess this country is in right now. I also agree it was not news worthy. Barnes and Noble is a business and like all businesses, the bottom line is “green”.