What would you do if your favorite clothing store or restaurant had publicly discriminated against groups that you, your family, or your friends identify with? Would you continue to support such a business because they were simply exercising the first amendment? Recently, the owners of some of the most prominent corporations in the U.S have publicly discriminated against marginalized identities and have faced minimal repercussions. Abercrombie and Fitch and denouncing plus-sized girls, Anti-gay Chic-Fil-a, and lastly, Urban Outfitters, a store widely recognized for its liberal, modern merchandise, ironically carries items that discriminate against minorities, as well as mocks horrific historical events. With T-Shirts labeled “Eat Less,” Tapestries with Holocaust-themed patterns, accessories inspired by the Navajo Tribe, and a knockoff Monopoly game called “Ghettopology,” Urban Outfitters has succeeded in exploiting anti-Semitism to mental illness to contemporary racism.

Melanie Villani, president of Clayton High School’s Gay Student Alliance (GSA) is outraged by Urban Outfitters’ heinous actions. Villani argues, “If we’re only looking at the laws, I agree that people have the freedom to state all their offensive opinions. Corporations can, technically, do things like sell “Ghettopoly” games and distribute shirts with symbols used in the holocaust. [But] that doesn’t make it right.”

Villani recognizes that even powerful corporations are entitled to their Freedom of Speech; however, she also recognizes the citizen’s freedom of assembly.

Villani asserts, “If they have the right to make terribly offensive products, we have the right to call them out on it and boycott their store.” If so many people are offended by the products sold by stores like Urban Outfitters, why does merchandise continue to thrive? And how long are we willing to wait until this exploitation is put to an end? Urban Outfitters, like so many others, is profiting off of marginalized identities, and no lasting measures have been taken against these companies.

Villani will not stand idly by, and she encourages others to take initiative with her, “To people who still support stores like Urban Outfitters; if you aren’t actively fighting against organizations who appropriate different cultures, profit off of the struggles of marginalized identities and glorify mental illness, to start, then you are part of the problem.” And so, the choice is yours. It doesn’t matter if you have never been directly affected by racist, sexist, or anti-Semitic views. It is up to you to decide the extent to which Freedom of Speech applies, and whether or not supporting these companies is worth it. Villani leaves us with some lasting words, “Just because they have the “right” doesn’t mean it’s right.”