It wouldn't be Black History Month without cringeworthy gaffes regarding Black History Month. The latest misstep comes courtesy of an item sold in Target, which has now been pulled off shelves after a customer complaint went viral. NPR reports that Issa Tete, a high school history teacher, decided to pick up a magnetic-activity book from the retailer that showcased three American civil rights icons: historian and sociologist WEB Du Bois, author and educator Booker T. Washington, and author and historian Carter G. Woodson. However, as she peeked inside the book, Tete discovered something was amiss.
"I noticed some discrepancies ... as soon as I opened this," she says in a TikTok video of the book she'd hoped to show her students. Specifically, the images of those three civil right leaders were mislabeled: Du Bois was tagged as Woodson, Woodson as Washington, and Washington as Du Bois. "I get it, mistakes happen," Tete says in her clip. "But this needs to be corrected ASAP." She adds: "I don't know who's in charge of Target, but these need to be pulled off the shelves, like, immediately."
Her video took off on the socials, amassing more than 975,000 views as of Saturday morning. Target has since gotten wind of the issue and says it's taking action. "We will no longer be selling this product in stores or online," the Minneapolis-based retailer says in a statement, per the Star Tribune. "We've also ensured the product's publisher is aware of the errors." That publisher, Bendon, hasn't yet commented on the commotion. (More Target stories.)