From: johnson@offroad.chem.wisc.edu (Arthur Johnson)
Subject: Re: Racist Car Dealers (was Re: Good Quote)
Organization: Physical Sciences Lab, UW-Madison
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 20:13:21 GMT

In article <1992Jul26.225932.25230@gagme.chi.il.us>  
barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Aaron Barnhart) writes:
>
     [...stuff deleted about why black folks should consider buying Saturn  
cars ...]
> 
> Yeah Arthur, but no doubt someone will find another way.  I am looking
> here <rummage rummage> no luck, for a Wall St. Journal article of about
> three months past, an editorial on the "black tax."  Well, let me just
> tell you two stories from that first-person account that stand out
> vividly:
> 
> One is the author going to Marshall Field's to return a shirt.  The  
woman
> has one look at him and says he's going to have to *launder* the shirt  
first
> and bring a receipt as proof of laundering before she will accept the 
> exchange.  The author does so and gets his refund from this ethnic scum
> who can barely conceal her rage.  Author, natch, sends a friend to  
Field's
> for the express purpose of purchasing, then returning a few days later,
> a similar shirt.  White friend gets prompt pleasant refund FROM THE SAME
> WOMAN.
>
     This sounds like it took place in Chicago. Having once lived in  
Chicago, this doesn't surprise me. It's high time more of these people be  
exposed. The next time some bigot tries to pull this on a black person,  
the black person should ask that the bigot put this "policy" in writing  
and sign it, followed by public exposure of the bigot's name, home  
address, home telephone number, and company that they work for and  
represent.
> 
> Another is the author -- a Newsweek photographer by the way -- trying to
> sell his home in a hurry, in response to a career leap of a promotion
> which he cannot afford to turn down but will have to if he can't get a 
> decent price on his home.  Unfortauntely, the agent appraises the home
> way low, and the author is stunned.  But wait: he calls his *white  
friends*
> and tells them his plan.  They show up, whisking away all evidences of a
> black household, replacing photographs and other telltale cultural  
symbols
> with their white faces.  Another agent is called in and .... an  
appraisal
> slightly outside the margin of error results.  To wit, FIFTEEN THOUSAND
> DOLLARS HIGHER than the previous appraisal.
>
     This doesn't surprise me, either. I'll have to think about this one  
awhile before I offer a possible course of action, though. 
> 
> Then of course there are the markups in stores in predominantly black
> neighborhoods, which everybody on s.c.a.a. except, of course,
> [name deleted] ought to be familiar wit.  But anyway.
>
     I'm not disputing this. This [markups] happens all the time. All I  
was doing was offering a possible solution to the specific problem of  
disparate price quotes for new cars due to the "racial" background of the  
buyer. Fixed prices will solve _this_ particular problem. Saturn Inc. is  
the only company that has such a company policy. I'm all in favor of  
testing this policy out, using black and white "testers", to see if their  
outlet stores are carrying out company policy. If they aren't, then black  
folks are no worse off than before. If they are, then Saturn should be  
rewarded with our business, if it's at all feasible, and the general  
public should be made aware of this fact.
>   
> -- 
> Aaron (Barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us)
> Evanston, Illinois

Arthur Johnson
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department of Chemistry
johnson@offroad.chem.wisc.edu