BROKEN ARROW -- A Tulsa couple is offended by what they say are racist caricatures from the 1900's for sale in a Broken Arrow antique store. The store has since asked the vendor to pull the items.
Antiques can be hard to find and they're considered treasures. But one couple says some shouldn't be on the shelves.
It's a hot summer day for shopping in Broken Arrow, but now as hot as the Amazan's temper.
"My wife likes antiques, so we decided to go antique shopping first," Dein Rene Amazan said.
Some stop at Jade Treasures Antique & Vintage Boutique. Amazan and his wife hoped to find a table, but found something shocking.
"This is how people saw us and this is how people who are still buying these things see us right now," Kyra Valderas Amazan said.
The couple took pictures of what they say are racist caricatures.
"They had this really pitch-black paper with big red lips, big eyes, you know the very obscene looking stuff," Amazan said. "We had kind of a girl holding her face kind of hanging with a rope and we had two other black girls hanging on a rope."
"I would compare it to the same type of person who would buy Nazi paraphernalia," Amazan said.
The couple left a review on Facebook. The store responded saying, "If you Google african antiques you will see many items that vendors stock. They are very collectible and not offensive."
"I have no idea why those things were being displayed in 2017, especially for sale not in a museum," Amazan said.
The store owner emailed the Amazan's saying, "My store is an antique store. I may not like or agree with everything that has happened in history, but I can't change it. Whoopie Goldberg herself is one of the largest collectors of these items. Have you emailed her to accuse her of being racist?"
"There are people who walk these same streets who grew up in that same era or have grew up with these kind of things in their home," Amazan said.
Shoppers will continue to come, but there's one car that won't be stopping.
The store owner's husband told 2 Works for You they have asked the vendor to pull those items.
