Uptown Notes

Ghettopoly updates The local Urban Outfitters on State Street does not and for a couple of days has not “had any in stock.” So if you go in there you won’t find Ghettoploy but you will find a host of offensive products, it’s worth a trip!

I was alerted that the Urban Outfitters website now features a pop up window when you search for “ghettopoly” that says,

“Due to customer concerns, Urban Outfitters no longer sells the board game ‘Ghettopoly’.” I have not seen an official press release stating that they will not restock in in their stores (the online catalog may operate semi-independently of stores), some stores have been maintaining wait lists for the product, but they seem rather ashamed and trying to make the game blemish die out quickly. The local store also repeats the tagline from the webpage when requests for Ghettopoly are made.

Also, an online vendor Cafe Shops no longer sells the Ghettopoly merchandise listed on their page. A local SCOR member emailed them about its offensive nature and they agreed to stop selling it, great job!

Though Friday, and the Friday before a break, is one of the least read days of the Daily they have a number of articles that are interest, no matter how tainted they are.

The first piece is about diversity of ideological perspective. Now the piece suggests it does not have to do with race, but in Drolet’s words, who issued the complaint,

“The pattern of these donations, combined with the University’s dogmatic defense of its racially biased admissions policy, demonstrates that ideas matter less to U of M than the skin color of those who bring those ideas to campus.” I am amazed how even though it is not supposed to be about race, he immediately bases his issue on the concept of racial diversity. Race is something that can be seen when someone enters a room, for the most part, I don’t know about political affiliation.

Another article by Jeremy Berkowitz (I guess the Daily’s beat reporter on affirmative action) asks people around the state, not affiliated with U of M about race in higher education admissions. The responses are really interesting, remember, these are the folks who will be voting on the Ballot Initiative, not just informed students. Of course, the lead picture with caption is from a Eva Burgess, a Black woman, who expressed, “she wished there was a way where white students spots weren’t being sacrificed for black students.” Ah, dang, now even Black folks have bought into White students having the natural “right” to admission to U of M. When will we stop perpetuation the zero-sum game in higher education admissions?

And I’m too lazy to find an article on Bush just spoke about bring “democracy to Cuba.” Hey, I wonder it’s a two for one deal, like most US foreign policy “request democracy and get capitalism ‘free.'”