Oprah Swiss Racism Row

[icyfroth]

Good morning all

A Swiss luxury boutique denied any wrongdoing Friday after US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey claimed she had been the subject of racism when a shop assistant allegedly refused to show her an expensive handbag.

Oprah's widely publicised claim comes amid a row over racism in Switzerland, where a move to ban asylum seekers from some public facilities including swimming pools and gyms has sparked a storm of protest.

Oprah Swiss Racism Row

She did not directly describe the incident as racist, but recounted it after telling King of a "racist moment" in New York years ago when she and her hairdresser were refused entry to a luxury store which had been robbed previously by two black people.

Switzerland takes in more asylum seekers than any other European country as a proportion of total population -- four or five times more than France, Italy or Germany.

and we think we've got it bad

But over the past three decades, Swiss voters have regularly backed tougher asylum laws, most recently in a plebiscite in June that removed desertion from the military as grounds for receiving a safe haven.

sounds like a good move

[icyfroth]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

From comments made around the net..I'm sensing that it makes a difference that she may not have looked like her TV self and/or that the shop assistance may not have known who Oprah is.I don't think her show is aired in Switzerland?

Perhaps going by that she should wear a badge that says who she is so that shop assistants in future tell the difference between her and other women of Indigenous African appearance

and know that because she is Oprah ,she is one women of Indigenous African appearance who should be shown the hand bag.

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Iza!

Further to your comment - I believe black Americans don't particulary like to be referred to as Afro - Americans, as not every black person in America is descended from Africa. They just want to be black Americans.

And I agree, the shop assistant should have just shown her the hand bag, regardless of colour or status.

[izabsmiling]

I wonder if their stores have the same signs ours do 'handbag inspections carried out' ?

I can't imagine having the money to afford a such an expensive hand bag and not sure that if I could I would ...I'm pretty sure though that if I could and would that I wouldn't buy it without inspecting it.

and Icy, this has made me look into things over there...and gives me more reason to think that on-shore processing of asylum seekers wouldn't work very well here (remember you suggested it recently?).

[serendipityricho]

What was wrong with her old hand bag-----can only use one at a time?.

Just asking and running for cover.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Richo.

[icyfroth]

it's a girl thing Richo 🙂

[icyfroth]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

I wonder if their stores have the same signs ours do 'handbag inspections carried out' ?

I can't imagine having the money to afford a such an expensive hand bag and not sure that if I could I would ...I'm pretty sure though that if I could and would that I wouldn't buy it without inspecting it.

and Icy, this has made me look into things over there...and gives me more reason to think that on-shore processing of asylum seekers wouldn't work very well here (remember you suggested it recently?).

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It's a very complex problem isn't it, Iza?

[***super_nova***]

Or maybe Oprah was getting upset that people in Switzerland are not recognizing who she is, so she throws a little tanty.  How dare this shop keeper not know who she is talking to.  By the statement of the shopkeeper the girl did not speak very good English.  She may have very well misunderstood what is Oprah asking.

When I lived in Europe there were many service men stationed in Germany (that was 20 years ago - so not sure if that is still the case), and their wives would be going on huge spending sprees across Europe; they were usually laud, speaking in English and expecting the shop girls to know what they are saying.  They were disliked because they were so rude, what ever colour they were, but many were black.

Of-course, everybody apologised to Oprah, after all she could probably buy the whole Switzerland if she wanted to, and customer is always right. 

[cherry*135]

Was that US servicemen in Germanay super nova?  I went to Europe a couple of years ago, in Italy, the shop keepers disliked the US college/Uni whose parents paid for the kids to have European holidays by themselves. They said they were loud & demanding. I noticed them in shops too.

Oprah.. comments on the net say she was wearing house slippers when she was out shopping and that her airbrushed photos in magazines make her look 39... so no wonder people don't recognise her.

The shop assistant spoke Italian so there could have been communication issues. I think if Oprah really did want to see the crocodile handbag (not the leather or velour ones the same style that were cheaper that  the shop assistant recommended to her instead) she would have made it quite clear which one she wanted to inspect/buy?

Couldn't she have stomped her feet and said ' Do you know who I am'?

[izabsmiling]

Who knows ?Switzerland has had problems with racism in the past ..... restricting the movements of asylum seekers from particular areas would not help I wouldn't imagine ?

this from 2002 (there was a report done in 2009(?) )

___________________________________________________________________

November 13, 2002 - 18:57

A sharp rise in Switzerland's black population over recent months appears to have hardened attitudes towards Africans, and asylum seekers in particular.

More and more blacks say they are suffering from racism on the streets, in the workplace or in the housing market.

In the run-up to this month's national vote on restricting the rights of asylum seekers, anti-racism groups are warning that blacks in particular are being depicted en masse as drug dealers or trouble-makers without any evidence on the part of those making the claims.

"The federal commission against racism has observed an increase in clearly racist articles in Switzerland's smaller regional newspapers," commission spokeswoman Doris Angst Yilmaz told swissinfo.

"In these articles they frequently use anti-black stereotypes and blatantly incite their readership to act against African asylum seekers who are all classified as drug dealers."

 http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive/Blacks_bear_the_brunt_of_racism_in_Switzerland.html?cid=3023446

[***super_nova***]

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Was that US servicemen in Germany super nova?  I went to Europe a couple of years ago, in Italy, the shop keepers disliked the US college/Uni whose parents paid for the kids to have European holidays by themselves. They said they were loud & demanding. I noticed them in shops too.

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That is what I was told.  I saw the wives in Paris, in Germany and in Prague.  I saw them buying absolutely truckloads of stuff to be shipped to USA, like crystal chandeliers (in Prague).  They were looking down their noses at everybody, raising their voices when the sales assistants did not understand what they mean.  People told me that the service men are stationed in Germany,and the women have nothing to do, but go on organised shopping  bus trips. 

Actually, I can imagine how Oprah could be mistaken for one of them.  Just can see her going in her fluffy slippers and demanding to see half the shop.  I am not saying that Switzerland (and other European countries) is not racist, there are definitely many very racist people over there, but I can tell you that here in Melbourne there are some very exclusive shops that will give you the cold shoulder if you wander in. 

[icyfroth]

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tulip*place wrote:

Oprah was shopping on her own and I guess was minus her usual tv makeup.  The shop assistant might not have realised it was

Oprah.

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it would be racism in that case..

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They might've mistooken her for one of them asylum seeker persons lol. How embarrassment for Oprah