At approximately 4 p.m. on Monday, January 20, a photo was posted on to Facebook by a Duluth man, George Ellsworth. Within the hour, the image of a sign announcing a sale at Global Village located at 25 West Superior Street in Duluth sparked shock and outcry throughout the social networking site, being shared repeatedly and receiving a barrage of negative comments. The sign announces, "MLK Day Sale. 25% Off Everything Black!" A post on the Global Village Facebook site which was put up on January 17 confirms the sale. The Facebook post states, "Annual MLK Day BLACK SALE! He showed us that the struggle and lookin' super fly can go hand in hand. We salute him with 25% off everything black, Monday, January 20th. Much more our style than a Columbus Day sale, no?" There seemed to be no comments on the post before Ellsworth's photo started being shared.
We had a chance to speak to Rachel Mock, the proprietress of Global Village, about her sale. This will be the fourth year in a row that the MLK Day sale has been held and Mock indicated that there has not been a problem with the sale in the past. "The sale is a celebration of Martin Luther King. In the way that I'm offended by the Columbus day sale, which still happens and even in a similar sense, President's day sales," said Mock. "25 percent off everything black, he was black, he was proud, he looked good and we're celebrating that."
Global Village has been selling items from all around the world since 1978. We asked if African items were also on sale and it was confirmed that only merchandise that was the color black was included in the sale. "We sell imports from all over the world a large percentage of what we sell is fair trade so the artisans that make it get a fair wage. I have local independents that sell to me, I also have African traders that come through," said Mock.
We asked Mock if she could see why some people may be offended by the sale, she replied, "I know that racial issues, period, are hard for people to broach…I think people are uncomfortable acknowledging race in any way, they think that is somehow offensive. I know in my heart, I know who I am, I know what I celebrate and it wasn't meant as an insult."
We corresponded by email with Glenda Luck, a person who took offense to the sign and called the store to complain and she indicated that the store stood behind their sale when she called.  "When I read George's post and then, their marketing ad, I felt an immediate reaction in the pit of my stomach that prompted me to call them and tell them that their 'black' sale was offensive. I just didn't see how I could not. I hope others are calling," stated Luck. "I guess making them feel bad is not going to get anyone anywhere, but they need some education on social etiquette/responsibility/cultural awareness…It was one thing to make the mistake, quite another to not man up and say something like, 'oh, I'm sorry, we did not mean to offend anyone, we will change the sale' or something." Luck is a former Duluth resident and now resides on Block Island, RI.