#occupymlkday?

When I saw Gap’s advertisement I closed my eyes and disturbing images began to flood my mind (art historians are the keepers of the pictures…)   Maybe I should be excited that MLK Day is being exploited as a shopping holiday just like President’s Day or Labor Day. Now there is true equality in corporate opportunism, at least.  

What are we opening the door to?  I see this scenario going a couple of ways:

People of all colors and creeds could get ripped off for overpriced and poor-quality merchandise side by side, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand in perfect harmony...*

...as they contemplate the days when it was not possible for African Americans to even try on clothes in a department store (if they were even allowed in the store at all).

I hope that as consumers walk the aisles side by side they remember the multitudes who marched in front of segregated establishments and braved police brutality unarmed. Perhaps there could be a moment of silence at the cash registers. 

These sales must be stopped or we run the risk of losing the memory of MLK’s accomplishments and their legacy for worthless trinkets. #

Oh wait…

* http://independentfilmnewsandmedia.com/chaos-stores-u-s-thousands-shoppers-scramble-nike-air-jordans/   "Brawl over Jordans: Arrests, pepper spray, gunshots, brawls and doors pulled off hinges” December 12, 2012
# http://functionalshmunctional.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-friday-crazin