Target customer Joseph Rodriguez, a 51-year-old video producer/director at the University of California-Davis, discovered the products in the chainýs downtown Sacramento store when he went shopping in late July.

A horror and science-fiction fan with youthful tastes, Rodriguez was immediately attracted to a blood-red pair of shorts he spotted in the racks, emblazoned with a collage of images and symbols including skulls.

ýI just thought they were cool,ý Rodriguez says. ýBut when I saw the 'EIGHT EIGHT,' I couldnýt believe it.ý

Rodriguez had been clued into the meaning of ýEIGHT EIGHTý just a few days earlier, when he watched ýTurn It Down,ý a VHI documentary about the rise of racist rock music in America. When he saw the ýHeil Hitlerý code, quite popular among young neo-Nazis, Rodriguez ýrecognized it immediately.ý

Target officials have not been so quick on the uptake. Rodriguez alerted the store manager in Sacramento, but was told that the store simply carries whatever the department-store giantýs headquarters ships.

After returning home, Rodriguez contacted Target headquarters through the companyýs Web site.

ýSpeaking as a member of a minority targeted by hate groups,ý he wrote, ýI find something of this nature being sold by Target appalling!ý He signed the note, ýJoe Rodriguez, Potential Former Customer.ý

Once again, Targetýs response was disappointing.

ýWe recognize not all of our guests will agree with our decision to sell certain kinds of merchandise,ý wrote a Guest Relations employee identified only as ýEileen.ý

ýHowever, we feel the final decision to purchase an item is always in the hands of individual guests.ý

The apparent form letter went on to say that Rodriguezý comments ýwill be directed to both our advertising and buying departments.ý

After Rodriguez contacted Tolerance.org, numerous attempts were made -- over a period of weeks -- to alert the company to the significance of ýEIGHT EIGHTý (on the baseball caps, the numerals ý88ý are used) and to ask why Target was selling merchandise with white-power logos.

Another Guest Relations employee, ýBrandon,ý answered one inquiry by saying that ýYour comments have been passed to our buyers for their review into this matter.ý

Today, Aimee Sands, a media relations officer for the Target Corporation, declined to comment on the white power symbols being distributed by her employer. By phone, Ms. Sands said only that the company was unprepared to make a statement and that the matter would, once again, be referred to Target's "buyers."

If Target appears unconcerned about the ýHeil Hitlerý symbols, close observers of the white-power movement are anything but.

ýWhite supremacists frequently use these kinds of codes as a way of communicating with each other under the radar screen of the public,ý notes Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Centerýs Intelligence Project, which tracks white-power activities in the U.S.

But Targetýs shorts and caps, which will appeal mostly to young buyers, bring those codes out into the open. And that, Potok says, can be dangerous.

ýThe noxious thing is when these symbols make their way into popular culture and gain widespread acceptance in the mainstream.ý

Target products certainly reach the mainstream. The chain has more than 1,100 stores operating in 47 states. The companyýs diversity policy, available online, says the company welcomes ýall guests into our stores,ý and strives ýto make them comfortable in our shopping environment.ý

Not everyone will be comfortable with merchandise that salutes Nazi Germany, says Jennifer Holladay, director of Tolerance.org.

ýUnlike white-power symbols such as Confederate battle flags, it wonýt be so easy for parents or teachers to catch the meaning of these shorts and caps,ý Holladay says.

ýIf Target wonýt pull these products from its shelves, we will work to educate people ý especially the storesý younger customers -- about the awful message conveyed by ý88ý.ý

>> TOLERANCE WATCH
Update! Target Stores to Pull "88" Clothing from Shelves
August 27, 2002 -- The Target Corporation said today that it will remove shorts and hats with neo-Nazi symbols for "Heil Hitler" from its 1,100 stores. Go

>> DO SOMETHING
E-mail Target and express your concern about the company's role in distributing white power regalia.

Alert friends about the white power symbols being distributed at Target stores. Encourage associates to refrain from purchasing the ý88ý shorts and hats.

>> DIG DEEPER
Learn more about ý88ý and other white supremacy symbols.

>> FORUMS
How should Target respond? How can parents and caregivers address issues like this with children and teens? Add your voice to our Forums!