The Wall Street Journal had a provocative article about racial tensions at Ralph Lauren headquaters, but I can't link to it because it's a paysite. Let's just say that although the newspaper makes it clear it choseed the Polo company just to illustrate the race problem in America, the readers were left to believe Ralph Lauren own a racist fashion company.
In the most proeminent incident described in the article, a regional manager with Polo Ralph Lauren dropped by the new Polo Sport store in anticipation of an inspection by an important visitor: Jerome Lauren, Ralph's older brother and the executive overseeing Polo menswear. The Roosevelt Field Mall where the boutique was located attracts a middle-class, racially integrated clientele. But the regional manager concluded that the store's ambiance was too "urban," meaning black, former Polo officials say.
The manager ordered two black and two Hispanic sales associates off the sales floor and back into the stock room, so they wouldn't be visible to Mr. Lauren, according to the ex-officials. The sales associates followed orders, but they later hired a lawyer and threatened to sue Polo for discrimination. The company reached confidential settlements with the four, the former executives say to the WSJ.
The newspaper claims that although Polo, like some of its rivals, presents a multi-racial face to the world, with black models in some of its ads, it tend to exude an exclusiveness that is uninviting to many nonwhites.
Tyson Beckford, the striking shaven-headed black fashion model who has appeared in Polo ads since 1994, is not interviewed, but Lauren himself is, and he tries to make it clear he looks into the matter very seriously.
Yet the article ends with the following ambivalent anecdote:
Mr. Lauren says he is paying more attention to what he sees at work. For example, he recalls that at a company Christmas party in 2000, he was surprised that a group of blacks and Hispanics had congregated in a separate room. "Why is that happening?" he says he wondered. "What's not welcoming" to those employees?
Mr. Lauren says he didn't approach his workers to ask them, however, and is still wondering about the answers to those questions.
The article is entitled: The Futility Of a 'Colorblind' Society. Polo, anyone?