WalMart Believes In Segregation...Of Books

[lame54]

http://www.ohio.com/news/dyer/102043983.html

Racial divide shows up on Walmart book shelves
U.S. store chain segregating titles by subjects' skin color

By Bob Dyer
Beacon Journal columnist

Published on Thursday, Sep 02, 2010

At many area Walmarts, the book section is extremely well-organized.

The self-help books are here . . . the religion section is there . . . cooking and diet books farther down . . . and right over here is the black section.

You think I'm kidding?

At Walmart, apparently, skin color trumps all.

The ''black section'' contains everything written by and about blacks: romance novels, self-help books, religion, sports, even an autobiography by the current president of the United States.

Now, whether or not you're a fan of Barack Obama, can't we at least agree that the thing that defines him is not his skin color but his job title? We have lots and lots of African-Americans in this country — about 38 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — but during this country's entire 234-year history we have had only 44 presidents.

Yet there he is, right in the middle of six monochromatic shelves, peering out at us from the cover of The Audacity of Hope.

At the Walmart on Arlington Road in Springfield Township, you'll find two fancy, hardcover books by people who are household names in professional football. Drew Brees, quarterback of the 2009 Super Bowl champion
New Orleans Saints, smiles on the cover of Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Adversity. Tony Dungy, coach of the 2006 Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, smiles on the cover of The Mentor Leader.

But you won't find those books side by side. Why? Because Brees is white and Dungy is black.

The black guy goes in the black section. After all, who other than a black person would want to read a book by an insightful, ethical, inspirational football coach?

At the Walmart in Montrose...

[secondwind]

1. Walmart must think that whites only read books written by whites, and vice versa?

[Obamanaut]

2. Many responses on earlier thread about half way down page 1 of GD

ETA this link to a really good (IMO) response in the earlier thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9063498&mesg_id=9063831






link to thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9063498&mesg_id=9063498

[slay]

3. I'll say it til the day I die cause I know that shithole will unfortunately outlast me- Fuck Walmart

it's not just them - it's the whole right wing corporate - wealth consolidating culture - putting profits above people that's heartbreaking. I still refuse to shop there. Their "low prices" come at too high a cost.

[AlecBGreen]

4. why do they do this?

simple: they do it for the reason they do everything else. They have done research and market testing and found that book sales are higher (or they can command a higher price per unit) by shelving items this way.

Its not a sign of racism, its a sign of how calculating business can be when making an (apparently) simple decision like where to put the books.

Its like how supermarkets always set the thermostat a little colder because research shows that, for whatever reason, you purchase more food when you are a little chilly. I guess if its too warm, you might get sleepy and wander out of the store :shrug: