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Clothing store waives $20 appointment fee for black customers — but whites still have to pay up. And backlash is intense.
The Blaze ^ | August 17, 2020 | DAVE URBANSKI

Posted on 08/18/2020 4:40:57 AM PDT by gattaca

A clothing store in downtown Savannah, Georgia, raised some eyebrows recently when it waived a $20 appointment fee for black customers and other people of color while keeping the fee intact for white customers, WJCL-TV reported.

Civvies on Broughton adopted the appointment system after reopening since the COVID-19 shutdown, the station said, adding that it then waived the fee for everyone but white customers in order to try to help disenfranchised communities.

"This promotional waiver serves the substantial business purpose of centering and prioritizing people who might not be able to access vintage clothing," store manager Raine Blunk told WJCL.

"Most of the feedback has been that our decision to waive this refundable deposit is racist because it favors people of color, black people, and indigenous people," Blunk added the station.

However, the store said that white customers who don't have $20 for an appointment can select the "don't agree" on the booking form so the booking manager can reach out and come up with other options, WTOC-TV reported.

But Civvies did say it wouldn't accept appointments with white customers who simply refuse to pay because of the policy, WTOC added.

Reaction Once the news was posted on the store's social media sites, backlash against the move was fierce. WJCL said some of the comments threatened lawsuits and boycotts against the 15-year-old business — but Blunk told the station that the fee waiver doesn't discriminate against anyone.

"Obviously it is unfortunate to have thousands of people commenting and messaging us saying that they are going to sue us and have contacted the Department of Labor because this is a violation of their rights," Blunk noted to WJCL, adding that "we believe that what we are doing is within the confines of the law."

Blunk also told the station that non-whites "are at this time the most likely to be affected by the poverty line, so this is not based on a racial favoritism toward black people, people of color, and indigenous people. It is simply a fact that that group of people are the most likely to be affected by a loss of historical equity, and we are taking a small step to restore that as a business to choose to wave this fee temporarily."

Anything else? Amid the backlash last week, a statement from the store's owners read, "It was not our intention to act in any way that might be perceived as discriminatory and for that we apologize."

In addition, the store manager added a lengthy apology post on Facebook acknowledging that the policy as written was "insulting to some black people, people of color and indigenous people" because it "felt like white saviorism."

The manager also said the policy was "alienating and overly aggressive to some white people, especially those who responded very negatively, for whom a different conversation or platform about racial inequities could have been more educational or informative."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: black; georgia; racism; retail
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1 posted on 08/18/2020 4:40:57 AM PDT by gattaca
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To: gattaca

Hope they go out of business.


2 posted on 08/18/2020 4:44:04 AM PDT by EnquiringMind
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To: gattaca

So this is where the left wants to go? Okay gotcha.


3 posted on 08/18/2020 4:44:24 AM PDT by VastRWCon (Fake News)
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To: gattaca
"It was not our intention to act in any way that might be perceived as discriminatory and for that we apologize."

This is a big part of the problem. They're either willfully ignorant or just outright liars, because this entire situation is the dictionary definition of racism.

Consider, however, that blacks are 13% of the total population in this country. Whites refusing to shop would likely bankrupt this business in a short time.

4 posted on 08/18/2020 4:44:31 AM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: gattaca

White women should loot the store, then burn it to the ground.


5 posted on 08/18/2020 4:44:59 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: gattaca

The goal isn’t equality. The goal is superiority.

The pendulum swings, and its rarely critically damped (i.e., returning gently to the middle). It always overshoots.


6 posted on 08/18/2020 4:45:48 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: gattaca

So did they change the policy?

That is the problem with small biz going woke — it ticks off too much of your customer base. I read a lengthy article a few months back about a Yoga franchise in CO going broke after its diversity hires turned on it like a pack of wolves.


7 posted on 08/18/2020 4:47:30 AM PDT by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: gattaca

And if I am white but identify as black then it only costs me $10?


8 posted on 08/18/2020 4:48:47 AM PDT by Bitman
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To: gattaca
"It was not our intention to act in any way that might be perceived as discriminatory and for that we apologize - but whitey still has to pay up.
9 posted on 08/18/2020 4:50:10 AM PDT by grobdriver (BUILD KATE'S WALL!)
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To: VastRWCon

Hmmm. I’ll charge a $100 table fee for all people to sit at my lunch counter. But I will waive the fee for white persons.


10 posted on 08/18/2020 4:50:30 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: gattaca

I am starting to hate them, nice job lefties


11 posted on 08/18/2020 4:51:06 AM PDT by spincaster (T)
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To: gattaca

Let me guess: affluent liberal White women are the owners.


12 posted on 08/18/2020 4:51:09 AM PDT by RealVirginia
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To: EnquiringMind
Who would ever want to patronise a store like that?
13 posted on 08/18/2020 4:53:20 AM PDT by Savage Beast (President Trump, loving God, America, and the American People, is on the Side of GOD and the Angels!)
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To: rarestia

The store is in Savannah, Georgia, which is majority black.

The white minority is being discriminated against, as happens when blacks gain power.


14 posted on 08/18/2020 4:53:39 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (A Leftist can't enjoy life unless they are controlling, hurting, or destroying others)
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To: gattaca

You don’t raise eyebrows. You close the store down and arrest the owner.


15 posted on 08/18/2020 4:54:06 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Voltaire: To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.)
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To: gattaca

A “vintage” clothing store? So..like...styles from the 60’s? How many blacks are clamoring to go back to the 60’s? Stupid stupid stupid. Also racist.


16 posted on 08/18/2020 4:54:32 AM PDT by ZinGirl (Now a grandma ....can't afford a tagline :))
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To: gattaca

Now that is deep-rooted racism.


17 posted on 08/18/2020 4:55:31 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought
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To: gattaca

So if white people can’t pay the $20 what are the other “options”? Maybe shining black people’s shoes like that idiot CEO of Chik fil A.


18 posted on 08/18/2020 4:57:17 AM PDT by HighSierra5
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To: gattaca

“This promotional waiver serves the substantial business purpose of centering and prioritizing people who might not be able to access vintage clothing,” store manager Raine Blunk told WJCL.

Centering and prioritizing people? You’re selling used clothing. Dismount from your high horse.


19 posted on 08/18/2020 4:58:12 AM PDT by Flick Lives (My work's illegal, but at least it's honest. - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds)
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To: grobdriver

” “It was not our intention to act in any way that might be perceived as discriminatory and for that we apologize - but whitey still has to pay up. “

And it was not my intention that 6 generations or so ago, some people who were the same color as me (not my ancestors, who were abolitionists and fought against slavery), owned black slaves, but...I’m going to be told to pay reparations for that, too. So, if there’s paying involved, it’s going to be done by white people. Because they’re white.

But they’re not racists. No. Even though they’re white, too.


20 posted on 08/18/2020 4:58:52 AM PDT by _longranger81 (Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; defend the defenseless; care for the unloved.)
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