"OPRAH'S ENCOUNTER WITH RACISM"

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Oprah's Encounter With Racism Results In Apology From Swiss Tourism Office
By JOHN HEILPRIN 08/09/13 05:35 PM ET EDT   


GENEVA — Switzerland is a glamorous playground of the rich and famous, filled with glitterati from princes to movie stars. It's also a land with a sometimes uneasy relationship with foreigners – especially when they aren't white.

Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey says she ran into Swiss racism when a clerk at Trois Pommes, a pricey Zurich boutique, refused to show her a $38,000 handbag, telling one of the world's richest women that she wouldn't be able to afford it. Winfrey earned $77 million in the year ending in June, according to Forbes magazine.

"She said: `No, no, no, you don't want to see that one. You want to see this one. Because that one will cost too much; you will not be able to afford that,'" Winfrey, appearing on the U.S. television program "Entertainment Tonight," quoted the clerk as saying. "And I said, `Well, I did really want to see that one.' And she refused to get it."

She brought up the incident during an interview about her new movie, "Lee Daniels' The Butler," which opens next week and focuses on civil rights and race relations in the U.S. She was asked to open up about her own experiences with discrimination.

Swiss tourism officials and the boutique owner were quick to offer apologies Friday.

"We are very sorry for what happened to her, of course, because we think all of our guests and clients should be treated respectfully, in a professional way," Daniela Baer, a spokeswoman for the Swiss tourism office, told The Associated Press.

The tourism office also posted an apology on Twitter, saying, "This person acted terribly wrong."

The newspaper Blick described the bag as a crocodile-leather Tom Ford design named for actress Jennifer Aniston, a fan of the American designer. It quoted Goetz as saying the bag was priced at 35,000 Swiss francs.

Boutique owner Trudie Goetz told Swiss public broadcaster SRF that she believed the incident was a misunderstanding when the store clerk, who is mainly an Italian speaker, explained how expensive the bag was.


People like Sade, 2Pac, Ice Cub and The Roots been singing about this very same thing, but only us poor blacks seem to be listening.  Yet, these are the one's that have forgotten that they are still black no matter where they go are who table they may be sitting at for the moment it is always funny when they are reminded and shocked to learn that the color of their money may have changed but their color remained black.  Don't you think?  Let's talk about this fall at THINKINK OUT LOUD, Hosted By E. L. PLEASANT