Target issues nationwide alert to recall white power clothing ("eight eight" and "88")

Associated Press / SFGate

[RCW2001]

Target issues nationwide alert to recall white power clothing

Wednesday, August 28, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/08/28/state1330EDT0096.DTL

(08-28) 10:30 PDT DAVIS, Calif. (AP) --

Clothing with white supremacist symbols at nationwide Target stores was recalled after a Davis resident realized the symbols are a code among neo-Nazis for "Heil Hitler" and brought it to store officials' attention.

Target Stores of Minneapolis issued a call Tuesday to all 1,100 stores nationwide to stop selling the clothing printed with "eight eight" and "88," which stands for "Heil Hitler" because H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.

Joseph Rodriguez, a video producer for the University of California, Davis, was shocked when he found the printed symbols on a pair of red shorts at the Elk Grove Target store in June. He had learned the meaning of the white power code from a documentary on racist rock music. The symbols are commonly used among supremacists in graffiti and is a popular tattoo.

Rodriguez bought the shorts and took them to the store manager. But after being told the store just sells what is shipped, he took his complaint to Target's corporate office, where he said he was "blown off."

Then Rodriguez went to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., which campaigns against racism, tracks racist organizations and runs an educational Web site, www.tolerance.org.

Target officials said they first learned what the symbols meant on Monday when Rodriguez's complaints were put on the center's Web site.

"Nobody knew what it meant," said Carolyn Brookter, director of corporate communications for Target. "We certainly apologize that this was out there. We would not have any white supremacist symbols out selling as merchandise."

Brookter said along with removing the clothing from the stores, Target will conduct a campaign to teach store buyers and advertisers about such symbols. They will also look into how the offending type came to be used on the merchandise.

©2002 Associated Press  

[Wurlitzer]

"Do I have to destroy my piano? It has 88 keys."

Good point. I'll have to check what is being played on mine.

Do we have to get sensitivity training when the power goes off and all the digital clocks go to 88:88:88?

[pupdog]

As a private business, Target can do anything it wants. That's freedom. I would take issue with you this is exactly free-market. If the shirts do NOT sell, then the store learns not to carry them. THAT is free-market. On the other hand, if the shirts ARE selling, and the store decides to pass up on that money-making because they think following PC ideology is better than profits -- well, that's not free-market. But it is freedom.

I'll have to disagree with you here. I see what you're saying, and especially since we're talking about leftist politics it might seem like we're injecting moralizing where it doesn't fit.

The thing is, though, part of being a capitalistic player means having the choice with your dollars to support the ideals and mores that you choose, and not have it decided by someone else. To me a "free market" is simply a state in which each individual has the choice to move their dollars where they see fit, regardless of whether their reasons for it are to maximize profit, influence some social phenomenon, purely unique individual reasons or some combination thereof.

For a while now I've referred to my philosophy as "free market morality." That can sound hideous if you don't see where I'm coming from, but it's really how I live.

[KarlInOhio]

Not only does it have 88 keys, but there are more white ones, they're bigger, and they all go to the front while the black ones have to stay on the back of the keyboard.

[PatrioticAmerican]

hehehohohohohahahahahehehe*snicker*hehehehahahahohohoh*snort*hehehahahhophohahaha...whew.

[Wyatt's Torch]

LOL! I did not make the "brown shirt" connection. Since I am employed by big brown, that must make me....Gasp!

[Cachelot]

The obvious solution is to ban the number "88". It's for our own good. I say we replace it with "420"

You're way off. The answer to everything is "42". You probably knew that.

On the other hand, if these critters replace "88" with "14 words", I can see a good boycott coming up ;).

[Greeklawyer]

sarcasm on:

Attention target shoppers: For those who are sensitive to dangerous rumors we conveniently provide tinfoil hats at the front door. For those who feel they may be offended by any item they may see for sale, we provide convenient blindfolds to make your shopping a pleasure and less anxiety inducing.

sarcasm off

[al_c]

Heh heh ... I'd like to see someone call one of the following a white supremacist ...

#88 - Bubba Franks, 6'6" 260 lbs.

#88 - Terance Mathis, 5'10" 185 lbs.

#88 - Erron Kinney, 6'5" 285 lbs.

[Wurlitzer]

"In a related story, it has been decreed that 88 will be striken from the integer set and replaced with the binary 1011000. "

Or 58 in Hex.

[Calvin Locke]

My first though too. LOL.

[Dakmar]

My clock goes to 12:00, which I'm sure has some special meaning in the tinfoil hat world of leftwing hypersensitivy. Maybe it's meant to refer to the Twelve Apostles, yeah, that's it, and we need to remove all digital clocks from any place that's within 1000 yards of a school, post-office, or non-Christian.

[lepton]

Do we have to get sensitivity training when the power goes off and all the digital clocks go to 88:88:88?

Yep.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I just knew there was something not right about Terry Glenn. Thank God the Pats traded him.

[Wurlitzer]

"My clock goes to 12:00, which I'm sure has some special meaning in the tinfoil hat world of leftwing hypersensitivy. "

12:00 is the sign of the time devil. I am not sure if he is black or white or for that matter if he is a she.

[HEY4QDEMS]

Allot of WRs in the NFL wear number 88, most of them are Black.
Even the stupid things get validated in the PC world.
Don't be suprised if the NFL bans the number.

[blam]

"Not only does it have 88 keys, but there are more white ones, they're bigger, and they all go to the front while the black ones have to stay on the back of the keyboard."

Well, now you've done it.

Does Target sell those clothes with an "X" on them? Doesn't that stand for Negro supremacy?'

[Dakmar]

LOL, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe the NAACP can sue the descendents of the inventor of the piano for reparations.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I only boycott Walmart :)

What's up with the 14 words?

[TankerKC]

Rodriguez outs himself here as an irredeemable Marxist.

If the racist SPLC was his first stop, you are correct.