After complaints from locals in Nyack, New York, Bed, Bath and Beyond pulls black jack-o’-lanterns from its website. According to News 12, the law offices of Feerick, Nugent, MacCartney Law Offices on South Broadway displayed the festive Halloween decorations on their steps a week ahead of Halloween, but they took them down two days later.
News 12 spoke to the specialty retail behemoth and was able to get a comment from a spokeswoman who said, “We have immediately removed the item from the sale. This is a sensitive area and, though unintentional, we apologize for any offense caused.”
The store says it took action after News 12 reached out but would not say if it had received any other complaints – https://t.co/Lg8rSYwcbH
— News12WC (@News12WC) October 21, 2019
Regional director at the NAACP, Wilbur Aldridge, said in a statement to the New York Post, “By now I would believe everyone [would] know that anything in Blackface is offensive… Equally as offensive is that a retail store would have such an item in [their] inventory for general purchase.”
When asked about the outdoor decor, Mary Marzolla, who is a partner at the firm, explained to News 12 that her team meant no harm in placing the black jack-o’-lanterns on the steps of their office.
“We understand that someone complained about them and so once we got word of that we immediately took them down,” Mary Marzolla, a partner at the law firm, told News 12.
“We represent people of all colors and faiths, and we would never do anything to exclude anyone from any community,” she adds.
Human #AF.
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