Racial Slurs Lost in Translation

Before reading further, take a look at this:

http://www.deepglamour.net/.a/6a00e553bc5256883401156f7e71d6970b-popup

(Photo cred goes to anonymous passerby who thought enough of the store to stop and capture it on camera)

The store is in Florence, Italy, and I vividly remember passing it for the first time, probably two weeks into my semester-long stay last year. I stopped abruptly and texted my roommate; she expressed equal shock at the name of the store. Neither of us understood how it was socially acceptable, in the year 2009, to run a business under a name that seemed, to us, to be so racist. Today’s discussion of Saussure’s theory on Signifiers and signs made me reconsider my initial shock by considering the name  under a contextually appropriate light…

 

Because of the United States’ relatively recent and incredibly turbulent racial history, from the inception of slavery shortly after the first immigrants settled in Virginia in the early 1600’s, to the alleged end of legal racial discrimination during the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s, the way Americans view race and the mindset with which they approach racial issues is probably unique. Though many countries in the world have had violent pasts due to racial tension and conflict, each country has dealt with the issues differently and each has its own history.   

 

In the cultural context of American society, the name of this store is blatantly derogatory; though it is too broad a generalization to say that Americans would be outraged if such a store opened in a strip mall somewhere in the U.S., as in doing so I would also be making the assumption that racism is extinct, I think it is fair to project that many Americans would be shocked if such a thing did happen. Retail stores, restaurants, magazines, television or radio stations and all other consumer-driven establishments or organizations must be very careful not to offend any of their audiences; any move they make that could be construed as prejudice towards any race, gender or religion could spell disaster in the form of bad press from local and national media or disaster in the form of a loss of a loyal consumer base (and if the former occurs, the latter will presumably follow). Seeing the store in Italy made me realize that our concept of discrimination, prejudice or racism in the United States must indeed be entirely different than that in Italy (and perhaps in other European countries).