A German discount market in the north of the country is making national news, for instance in today's Zeit online.
The market has put up a sign in Arabic, Persian and other languages telling prospective shoppers "EU citizens welcome". The newspapers report that two security guards are posted next to the sign.
Security guards at stores are not as ubiquitous in Germany as they are in the U.S., so the presence of security guards in itself makes passers by and onlookers take note.
The store ain't talking to the media, but the officials responsible for a refugee home not far away were saying that the reason for the sign and the security guards given by the store was an alleged increase in shoplifting by residents of the refugee home. The local police report that no such increase had occurred.
The German government Interior Minister has expressed worries regarding a high profile squabble about an asylum home in Berlin that neo-Nazis were tainting Germany's reputation abroad.
The current debate about a large increase in the number of refugees often leaves out the minor fact that this higher number is still just about ten percent of the number of asylum seekers knocking on Germany's doors in the 1990s.
The behavior of the store management is as dumb as it is transparent, so it merits some ridicule.
When we were kids becoming aware of racism, we were telling this joke: There's this school bus driver explaining to the kids that racism is bad. He says, look, kids, racism will not be tolerated on my bus. I don't see black or white, to me you are all green. Okay, now the dark green kids to the rear, the light green kids in the front.
If you would like to know where the German town so welcoming to light green shoppers is located, we went to the trouble to look up Wikipedia for you.
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