Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Treasure Island.



Last weekend, I went to a great event. A craft and flea market in my area, filled with locals selling their handmade and/or vintage wares. I went last year and found some great Christmas presents, and I figured I'd go again and see what I came across.

So, I am perusing one of the stalls that is run by a middle-aged white woman. I saw some vintage books, and there was one in particular that caught my eye. The woman running the booth came up to me and said, "That book is old; it was published in 1935." I can't say what the book was, because I don't want to ruin the surprise for the person that is going to get it this Christmas. Then kind of out of nowhere, the woman reaches under another stack of books and says, "Look at this one!" She then shows me:



If you cant see the picture for some reason, the book is called The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God. The woman then tells me, "I don't know what it's about, but it's got some pretty cool illustrations that you could take out and frame."

Why is she showing me this book? She said herself that she didn't know what the book was about, so she couldn't have been showing it to me because she thought the books were related in some way. I also never said anything about wanting a book with illustrations I could frame. So, I just smiled, looked at the book for about three quarters of a second, and then put it down and bought the other book that I had been looking at initially.

The moral of this story: If you have a store, don't show me the black related stuff you have because I'm black. If it makes some sort of logical sense, then fine. And if anyone wants to buy me the black related new Lupe Fiasco CD, that would be fine too.

The End.

8 comments:

  1. I have no idea where you live but the architecture of the buildings is beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:01 AM

    Now I'm super curious as to whether or not she found God...

    ReplyDelete
  3. yourwhitefriend10:19 AM

    For reals. I witnessed this event and still can't believe it happened.

    ReplyDelete
  4. yourwhitefriend10:44 AM

    I have to say, though, that what if she really did just think that the pictures were cool, and had absolutely no idea what the title was (since she obviously had no idea what it was about either, I wouldn't put it past her to be that clueless)? Or maybe she did realize what the title was, but thought you might enjoy the pictures anyway, as someone who was expressing an interest in old books. Wouldn't it have been worse/racish if she were going to show you the book to point out the pictures, but then chose not to for fear of offending you?

    Yes, this is giving her more credit than she probably deserves, but it's perhaps something else to think about.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12:16 PM

    WOW.

    JD

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous12:21 PM

    Does everything about race offend you? If she saw you coming and hid the book ( but not before you saw the title), would that offend you?

    Maybe there aren't many black folks where you live and she was trying to sell the book to the author's intended audience.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Who is this last Anonymous?

    It's not about being offended.

    It's about how stupid that woman was. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous8:30 AM

    Selling to a demograpic! Someone better tell FUBU they have it all wrong. If she handed you a book on billards would that have been out of line? A game where a white ball dominates over all the other colored balls and the end is determined when the black ball is put in a hole? Wow! Relax I believe there was no malice or harm intended just thought it might be of interest. We all make quick assumptions. Marketing is about defining an audience and making a sale, there will always be someone who does not fit into the demographic. I am starting to think that with all the commercials I see every man over 40 has an erection problem and every woman has vaginal discomforts. If this woman owned a book store would she have a section on money just for Jews? I think not. Cut the woman a break there is no harm in seeking out a market for her products. Targeted marketing, or selling to a demographic it happens every second of the day.

    ReplyDelete