To think Oprah may be being a little inflammatory?

[fackinell]

I very much admire Oprah Winfrey but I'm a little concerned by the news that she think the incident with the handbag in Switzerland may have been racially motivated.

IMO everyone is equal based solely on their actions so prepared to be told I am U. I can be a bit of a scruff and on a few occasions have been informed that something is out of my price range. I am white, British, 40 something and put it down to snobbery of the assistant involved, making a snap judgement on me.

I feel Oprah's comments could invoke a bit of animosity the (hopefully) calming race division. With each generation the former issues seem to be diluting (I haven't heard a racist comment in anyone under 40 for years.) isn't this just stirring trouble where there may not necessary be any?

Reveal
Why should she have to prove, or say that she can afford the bag? And that doesn't show that the shop assistant wasn't racist, just that Oprah decided against making a fuss.

Which actually seems to be a sign that she is not a big drama queen intent on making a fuss.

So why wasn't she shown the bag then? Given that she says she was wearing Donna Karan? Maybe it was her earrings, or her shoes, or her tights,, or her hair or her skin

I was living in a Southern US state when pursuing my graduate degree. Another student and I were looking at how poverty impacted learning in some of the poorer communities. We shared a car to go about our evaluations. Once we left the university city we lived, my partner asked me to pull over so he could drive. He also asked me to get into the back seat. I understood immediately what the issue was. I was a tiny blonde girl, he was a large black man. He felt unsafe in the Deep South being driven around by me lest we get pulled over by State Cops. He called it the Driving While Black Syndrome.
This was in 1991. Oprah is a Southern girl, I imagine she has felt the sting of racism a time or two..

OP - YABU. Oprah is old enough to have dealt with Jim Crows. While she has spoken about the hardships in her life and worked to help others, she has no history of being inflammatory about issues of race in her life. Even worth billions, she's had people tear her to pieces for her race and sex, even in America which knows her well, she knows very well what's what, she's had to jump through the hoops of global business life as a black woman.

Really, why would you suggest she'd want to be inflammatory? What about her makes you think that would be the case? She has quite enough work, problems, and people wanting to tear her apart without this. I don't see anything to match your accusations, OP. I mean, seriously, we just had LeVar Burton - a wealthy and likely the most beloved Black American actors - discussing his procedures for avoiding getting shot by the police because of how often he pulled over regardless of how nice he dresses and liked he is.

Regardless of how well you dress, how nice you sound, how much money or fame you have, racism exists and is part of the everyday system. Ignoring it and trying to excuse it away is just keeping that system up. I don't see why you would want to fight for it.

If I know Oprah she's not the type to get all, "Don't you know who I AM?"

Disclaimer: I don't know Oprah.

But I imagine she walked out without feeling like she must prove her worthiness to touch, let alone own, the bag.

Damn auto correct. Scruffs. Scruggs is not some label you are all too poor to have heard of

Well said, LittleSpork!

I'm surprised that attempts are made to find another, more innocent explanation to this shop assistant's behaviour.

Blu

Some day I hope to own a Scruggs.

Exactly, LittleSpork.

Have had racist comments shouted at me numerous times in recent years along the lines of "go home paki" or "don't sit next to the paki, she might have a bomb." That was said to my 60 year old jeans wearing, non Muslim but brown mother. Not that it's right to say to a Muslim person either but was clearly said to intimidate and belittle her by a group of 20 something's on a train cos of her skin colour. "There's no black in the union jack doo dah doo dah" being sung repeatedly for 10 mins, by about 50 under 40 yo football supporters at west ham station which is very much full of ethnic minorities. Being shouted at in austrailia "fuck off abo's". And then there's the other hidden racism. A lot of my white collegues thought it no longer existed until i told them about some of my experiences. Even my white hubby, but now that he's with me, he can recognise it. So can Oprah

I lived in Zurich for more than ten years, and it's a city entirely driven by money. I have been treated like shit in fancy shops there too (and I'm white). However, the judgement that Oprah couldn't afford the bag was probably based on the fact that she's black (my shit treatment being based on the fact that I didn't look rich).

YABU - I was incredulous when I heard what happened and it sounds like it was racist to me.

The shop deserves to be shown up for the way it treats people.

Horry twas the closest dealer to us and DH due to travel, we decided to ignore the silly twat and just buy the van, we can seat our black arses comfortably in it

Yes, apparently she calmly walked out and said nothing about her celebrity status.

They sure do. I bet they are pissing themselves now over the awful publicity they're receiving.

Most people they treat like shite (there'll be plenty I would imagine) don't have the clout or money Oprah has.

Some of the stories on here are awful.
OP - so why do you think the assistant wouldn't show her the bag? She wasn't tramping about in her scruffy gardening clothes (which are probably posher than my nice clothes), she's on holiday going to a friends wedding.

(£28 grand for a bag? Seriously, Oprah it ain't worth it).

My daughter and I both have a bit of a 'traveller' look apparently, dark eyes, mad curly dark hair , mainly wear jeans/very casual in the day. We are of Irish descent, though my DD has never lived there.
There is a large traveller camp set up near us illegally and they are not popular with local businesses who complain about them allegedly shoplifting and so on.
I am sick to death of us being followed round by the security guard or the shop assistants being instantly on red alert whenever we are in a shop.
Quite funny to see their faces though when my daughter opens her mouth and out comes a well spoken, almost posh accent .
I tend to make them even more twitchy though when I speak as I still speak with an Irish accent.

Stereotyping much, going on there I think.

Here is another one for you. My black friend went out with a white guy in his early thirties. He told her his white friends were teasing him about it and even showed her a text from his friend that said "I've not ad a black one before. Has she got a friend?" This was in an area with alot of ethnic minorities. Even I was shocked by that despite me having been called a paki lots of times.

I think being overweight and wearing casual gym type clothes (even if by Donna Karan) might have given the impression of not being in the $38,000 handbag league, but who can tell, maybe racism was thrown in to the mix.

Oprah's loungewear costs more than most peoples' wedding dresses .

Rosh, excellent point. They were just being discrimatory over her weight and casual clothes? Thank fuck for that!

Everyone knows fat people aren't rich!

Seriously, what a stupid assumption. It was about race, and you know it.

Two things I don't get -

The shop owner on the news saying it was a "misunderstanding" - What? what?? What on earth kind of misunderstanding could it be other than the obvious? Yes, the shop assistant misunderstood the fact that a black woman could be wealthy because she was racist

Also, what was with all the shots of the Tom Ford shop in the news? It wasn't a Tom Ford handbag was it? And surely Tom Ford owns Tom Ford shops? (minor point when we are discussing racism, I know)

I had a bad experience in Geneva once with a snooty sales assistant - I'm a white European. I guess Oprah was probably a lot better dressed than I was at the time so maybe it was racism in her case .. not sure?

Hearts yes she was trying to buy a Tom Ford handbag called 'Jennifer'.