TORONTO — "Doris Moore was shocked when her new couch was delivered to her home with a label that used a racial slur to describe the dark brown shade of the upholstery.
The situation was even more alarming for Moore because it was her 7-year-old daughter who pointed out "n——- brown" on the tag.
"My daughter saw the label and she knew the color brown, but didn't know what the other word meant. She asked, 'Mommy, what color is that?' I was stunned. I didn't know what to say. I never thought that's how she'd learn of that word," Moore said.
The mother complained to the furniture store, which blamed the supplier, who pointed to a computer problem as the source of the derogatory label.
Kingsoft Corp., a Chinese software company, acknowledged its translation program was at fault and said it was a regrettable error.
"I know this is a very bad word," Huang Luoyi, a product manager for the Beijing-based company's translation software, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
He explained that when the Chinese characters for "dark brown" are typed into an older version of its Chinese-English translation software, the offensive N-word description comes up."
Well, okay. A mistake was made, then apologized for. So what REALLY gives?
"Moore is consulting with a lawyer and wants compensation. Last week, she filed a report with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Commission spokeswoman Afroze Edwards said the case is in the initial stages and could take six months to two years to resolve. Moore, 30, has three young children, and said the issue has taken a toll on her family. "Something more has to be done. We don't just need a personal apology, but someone needs to own up to where these labels were made, and someone needs to apologize to all people of color," Moore said. "I had friends over from St. Lucia yesterday and they wouldn't sit on the couch." AHHH...there it is. The entitled ones need far more than an apology. MONEY will help them get over this tragic, horrible, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it disaster.
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