Google Maps and “Nigger House”: Say What Now?!

UPDATE: Intrepid armchair reporting at it’s finest! A friend just sent me this message via Facebook:

Hey I just talked my friend at Google and they said they’re working 24 hour shifts to try and fix the ‘White House’ problem…Apparently their original code was designed to incorporate “common user references/ suggestions”.

Let’s see how this all rides out. Stay tuned.

ORIGINAL POST:

Oh, Google Maps. Oh, sweet, sweet Google Maps. You give me my directions and take me everywhere I need to go. You let me virtually walk around strange neighborhoods without leaving the comfort of my chair. But, baby, you gon done messed up.

When you make your hop, skip and jump over to Google Maps, type “Nigger House” into the search field. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

This is what you get:

Screen shot: Nigger House

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly. If you’re anything like me, you double checked your results. Go on now! I’m a fan of experiential learning. Clear those results, map your way over to Siberia or something and go on and TYPE THAT MESS IN AGAIN. Yes, so very not a fluke.

Nigger House Google maps
photo: Peter Griffin

The President of the United States, @POTUS, joined Twitter this week, diverging from the existing account @BarackObama, that’s currently run by Organizing For Action. Many welcomed him with open arms:


Look at this guy! Amiright?!

But, because we don’t deserve nice things, the internet has had other things to say, too. I’m not showing you any of that mess, though. If you hate yourself, you know how to do internet research. Try Bing.com. Heard it’s nice.

If you really want to do some armchair activism, one of my Facebook friends created this Change.org petition. I signed it because it’s the 21st century way. Even though we’re holding on to the racism of 1952.

High five, “post-racial” America. High five.

2 thoughts

  1. Thanks so so much for pushing my petition, it’s just sad that society still won’t except things

    1. Of course, Meagan. I was glad to find out that it’s actively being worked on but it’s pretty ill to think that there are people who thought to do this in the first place.

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