I bet you’re wondering why I would filth up your Tumblr feed with such disgusting, racist images. Well, let me tell you a story that ends with my small business being booted from the Randolph Street Market without a refund.
My friend Katya and I started Greyslater a few months back, and this market was our first brick and mortar sales experience with our new business. We noticed on Friday as we were dropping off our table and display items that the place was disorganized - once set of people told us to walk in the wrong door, then we got yelled at, then they told us to drive out the wrong way and we got yelled at again - but shrugged it off.
This morning after not being able to find anyone to direct us to alternative parking when the vendor lot was full, we set up shop and got ready for the market experience. Katya did her part to support the other vendors by dropping about $500 on a vintage bike, some posters, and a few pieces of furniture. I ate a lot of empanadas.
Then, since there were no market employees around to let us know when we should pack it in, we took a cue from the vendors around us, and packed up at 6 right when the market was supposed to close. First, Katya brought her bike to the car, and stopped at a poster vendor’s booth on her way back to meet me at the table. When she got back she grabbed me and said, “You have to see this, I’ve never seen anything so racist in my life.” When we got to the table, I saw a lot of vintage Disney art, some pin-ups, and then… the pictures you see here. Framed, and ready to display proudly in your living room.
Katya took a picture, and asked me what we should do. Of course, there were still no market employees to be found. In fact, other than vendors and the last few customers, there were only Chicago police officers working security.
Being a social media nerd, I said, “You should just tweet it. Tell people it’s gross, maybe the right person will see it.”
So she did, from her personal account rather than our business account, tagging Randolph Street Market. It read, “Embarrassed to be a vendor @randolphmarket when these are for sale: http://ow.ly/i/EBNl #disgusting #racist”
We went and grabbed dinner, and on our way out she received a direct message on twitter from the market with the number of the organizer and the message to contact her immediately.
Assuming she was going to apologize that no one had caught the fact that horribly racist items were for sale at the same market we paid $175 to sell at, and say that those items would not be there tomorrow, Katya called her.
Instead of the perfectly reasonable scenario described above, the woman told Katya that those items would not be there tomorrow, but that since we had “embarrassed people” we were not welcome back at the market. She went on to say that we should have “told somebody” about the items. When Katya told her there was no one to tell other than the cop, the lady told her she should have told the cop.
“Excuse me, officer? That man is selling racist posters! Arrest him at once!”
For about five minutes Katya and this woman went back and forth about whether or not she should have told the cop about the posters - but never once did this lady suggest that there were market employees to tell, because she knew damn well there weren’t!
Not only that, but the fact that they are indeed asking this vendor to remove those items means that they are not approved by the market - but, apparently, it is the responsibility of other vendors to go around and look at everyone else’s stuff to make sure no one is selling KKK memorabilia or Nazi flags, because the Randolph Street Market can’t be bothered to hire like, three people to walk around and make sure things are running smoothly.
So, tomorrow Katya and I are headed back to the market to pick up our items we have been banned from selling - although we will not be receiving a refund of our $175. We also need to pick up the pieces of furniture Katya purchased, so that will be fun explaining to those vendors we spent money with that we got kicked out for tweeting a picture of racist garbage that another vendor was selling. It should also be interesting to hear what the three African-American vendors we were selling next to think about the market’s elaborate attempt to blame us for pointing out the inappropriate items they were allowing at their event.
So, Greyslater’s first craft fair did not end the way we anticipated, but, there you have it. The Randolph Street Market is happy to keep a small business’ $175 while revoking their ability to sell, while the guy selling the gross pictures you see here will still be there tomorrow, selling other stuff and making money. Craft shows are cut-throat, man.
Another reason I love BRAZIL: Civil unions on their way in Brazil
A measure that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions is making progress in Brazil.The bill passed through a human rights committee in Brazil’s Congress, where it’s been held up for 16 years. The measure would change Brazil’s civil unions law from saying such unions are between a man and a woman to being between two people.
This may pave the way for marriage equality in Brazil as well, as state courts have allowed some civil unions to become full-fledged marriages. The bill needs to pass other Senate committees before going to a full vote.
Woo!
(Source: gaywrites)
Germany sets new solar-power record
An energy institute says German solar power plants produced a record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday. From Reuters
(Source: uk.reuters.com)
(Source: pusheen)
In the decades between Columbus’ discovery of America and the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, the most devastating plague in human history raced up the East Coast of America.
Just two years before the pilgrims started the tape recorder on New England’s written history, the plague wiped out about 96 percent of the Indians in Massachusetts.
In the years before the plague turned America into The Stand, a sailor named Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed up the East Coast and described it as “densely populated” and so “smoky with Indian bonfires” that you could smell them burning hundreds of miles out at sea.
Using your history books to understand what America was like in the 100 years after Columbus landed there is like trying to understand what modern day Manhattan is like based on the post-apocalyptic scenes from I Am Legend.
Historians estimate that before the plague, America’s population was anywhere between 20 and 100 million (Europe’s at the time was 70 million). The plague would eventually sweep West, killing at least 90 percent of the native population. For comparison’s sake, the Black Plague killed off between 30 and 60 percent of Europe’s population.
While this all might seem like some heavy shit to lay on a bunch of second graders, your high school and college history books weren’t exactly in a hurry to tell you the full story. Which is strange, because many historians believe it is the single most important event in American history.
But it’s just more fun to believe that your ancestors won the land by being the superior culture.
Read more: 6 Ridiculous Lies You Believe About the Founding of America | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19864_6-ridiculous-lies-you-believe-about-founding-america.html#ixzz1vvFcedhN
(via girlgoesgrrr)
"You don't see me, 'cause I don't have much to say..."
