← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Kurt
Thread ID: 7277 | Posts: 13 | Started: 2003-06-11
2003-06-11 20:09 | User Profile
How 'bout we never arrest any black or Hispanic person ever again? Oh wait, then they would complain the police were ignoring them. Nope, you just can't win, White man.
Minority Suits Cite Consumer Profiling AP Wire (via [url=http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/6043805.htm]Brandenton.com^[/url]) |06/08/03| Deborah Kong, AP Minority Issues Writer
Recent lawsuits against Macy's, Dillard's and J.C. Penney are attracting new attention to racial profiling of consumers, something minority shoppers say has long been an unfortunate fact of life.
While the retail industry says profiling cases are isolated and the result of overly aggressive employees rather than company policies, minority customers complain they've been viewed suspiciously, sometimes refused service and falsely accused of shoplifting.
Consumers may have accepted such treatment as the norm in years past, said Jerome D. Williams, director of the Center for Marketplace Diversity at Howard University. But, increasingly, "people are tired of it," he said. "People recognize they have some legal rights now."
Minority consumers, primarily blacks and Hispanics, have complained for years of mistreatment in hotels, restaurants, and a range of other stores, he said.
Denny's, a restaurant chain accused of making blacks prepay for meals, paid $54 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in 1994, and Adam's Mark Hotel settled allegations that its Daytona Beach hotel discriminated against black guests for $1.1 million in 2001.
According to a recent Gallup poll, half of U.S. blacks said they felt blacks in their community were treated less fairly than whites in stores and malls.
Williams and two other business professors found more than 80 consumer profiling cases filed in federal courts since 1990. Even more cases have been brought in state courts.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, many have been filed by Arabs and Muslims, said Anne-Marie Harris, an assistant professor at Salem State College's School of Business, who is working with Williams.
Suits against Dillard's, Macy's and J.C. Penney were all filed within the last two months.
Paula Mays, 45, claims she was falsely accused of shoplifting, slammed into a wall and pushed to the floor after she exchanged a belt at a J.C. Penney store in Jacksonville, Fla. Mays sued the company in April in federal court, claiming her civil rights were violated.
"I don't think I ever would have been treated like that if I wasn't black," said Mays, 45, who was shopping with her teenage daughter. "I don't want anybody else to be treated like that."
Last month, Jannie Lewis filed a lawsuit against Dillard's alleging, among other things, that it profiles minorities based on race, violating the Texas constitution. Lewis said a security officer at a Tyler, Texas, store falsely accused her of stealing.
"It had to be because I was black. There was no other reason. I did no more than women do all the time. We look, we look, we look," said Lewis, recounting how she was searching for the right shade of orange lipstick to match a dress when a security officer allegedly took her purse and searched it.
"It was a nightmare. I felt less than human, worthless, degraded, humiliated, embarrassed," said Lewis, 39. "Worst of all, it was right in front of my daughter. Nobody should have to feel the way I felt." :crybaby:
Dillard's, along with J.C. Penney and Macy's - which was sued by a customer last month in New York - declined to comment on individual lawsuits, but they assert that they don't profile or target any minority group.
"If somebody is racially profiling, it's an isolated incident," said Daniel Butler, the National Retail Federation's retail operations vice president.
"It's the result of an associate acting independently on their own. It's not the result of a company's training or people directing them to do it.
"If the consumers knew the extent of fraud and theft, and the extent to which retailers are trying to fight that, I think they'd understand."
Retailers lose about $10 billion a year to shoplifting, according to the 2002 National Retail Security Survey report by researchers at the University of Florida.
To thwart shoplifters, stores train employees to look for certain behaviors - not race, said Richard Hollinger, author of the Florida security survey.
"It's very unfair I think to paint the entire industry with one brush because, if you look at the record of lawsuits, there are some retailers that stand out as being sued much more frequently," Hollinger said.
In the case of Dillard's, lawyer Cletus Ernster is representing Lewis and more than 100 plaintiffs in suits against the store.
Company spokesman Skip Rutherford said the chain has "never had a policy of targeting any particular group, and any Dillard's employees who engage in such activity will be disciplined."
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is handling a separate complaint against Dillard's. Elise Boddie, assistant counsel at the fund, said she's had her own experience with what she calls "shopping while black."
"I'm very careful about how I move throughout the store," Boddie said. "I try not to put my hands in my pockets. You internalize a lot of the heightened racial scrutiny."
é 2003 Associated Press
2003-06-11 20:23 | User Profile
They should emulate airport screeners and harass white Americans, no matter how ridiculous it looks like.
2003-06-11 20:35 | User Profile
Amusing, in light of having just returned from a Queens bodega where a black man tried to make off with a drink without paying for it, and was stopped by the Asian/Arab guy behind the counter who asked, "Hey buddy, gonna pay for that?" How many times in the city have I watched as the bodega owner starts yelling when some known black person enters the store... "YOU! Not you! You steal from my store!" The preferred citizen in question will unleash a torrest of f*ck-yous on the owner, and cry racism. "You a ray-siss muthafuckin' Chinese muthafucka!"
Blacks steal. That's what they do. Even other non-Whites see it. For them to be eyed suspiciously makes perfect sense. I'm for not allowing them into stores, period. Which is, in fact, what some stores in Manhattan do, by locking the doors and letting people in one at a time.
Another one of the more infuriating encounters of our modern multiracial world is the trip to NYC's Duane Reade drug store. You walk in, and there'll be a line of about 15 people, all in front on one Yeah-I-Gots-A-Attitood black checkout woman moving at the speed of tar. Posted nearby will be two or three cheap polyester-clad, grossly overweight, cornrowed black "security guards." There's your "marketplace diversity." Think of how much more pleasant, and inexpensive because of reduced security costs, a White-only store would be.
2003-06-11 20:36 | User Profile
What's ironic is that 98% of the security and store personnel who work in department stores are black. At least here in NYC metro area and suburbs. I think it's a very accurate assumption that blacks shoplift more than any other ethnic group (as well as a whole list of other crimes!) and who better to know than.....other blacks who work in stores!
But in any case, whatever happens Whitey gets blamed anyway:angry:
2003-06-11 20:40 | User Profile
X, I think we posted at about the same time. And noticed the same thing. Glad to see there's at least one other (OK, I know of three or four, total) New Yorkers who's awoken.
2003-06-11 20:45 | User Profile
Originally posted by Hugh Lincoln@Jun 11 2003, 15:35 ** Another one of the more infuriating encounters of our modern multiracial world is the trip to NYC's Duane Reade drug store. You walk in, and there'll be a line of about 15 people, all in front on one Yeah-I-Gots-A-Attitood black checkout woman moving at the speed of tar. Posted nearby will be two or three cheap polyester-clad, grossly overweight, cornrowed black "security guards." There's your "marketplace diversity." Think of how much more pleasant, and inexpensive because of reduced security costs, a White-only store would be. **
Hugh, I've been there! If I go into a Duane Reed in Manhattan and see a fat, corn rowed, white-hating negress behind the counter, I do a 180 without missing a step. If you want a White-only experience at one of these types of stores you must drive 100 miles in any direction from NYC :hit: Yes, I'm a New Yorker who's awoken....for years now. I've had much contact with the species called the jew..... I mean, how can you not be racist in this city, I often wonder, but you know what.... most people of every race (especially the jews) in NYC ARE racist! I actually think NYC is the MOST racist city in the country. You just naturally learn all about it growing up here since many neighborhood boundries are marked by race. As a White person, you learn very quickly where not to go, which begs the question...WHY?
2003-06-11 21:17 | User Profile
Any room on that boat for one more? Have done the Duane Reade mambo but I find that the DR management prefers an all-Hindu staff whenever possible. (I'm sure the threat of lawsuits and endless "Yo Onna, I calls to da stand Neckmeat Jefferson" depositions force them to augment staff with a few dung bunnies. Funny how no black attorney ever goes to court because there aren't enough Koreans or Pakis represented in the fried chicken industry, though. )
I am totally for not lettin' em into stores. Management reserves the right not to be robbed by a skell with three dollars on him to begin with.
2003-06-12 04:20 | User Profile
In the Port Authority, there used to be "Black Israelites" who would preach about the most idiotic things (that Jesus was black, Whites were evil, etc.) In the past number of times I've been there I haven't seen them.
I've maybe been to a Duane Reade once while I've been there but most of the people who work in the stores are Latin.
2003-06-12 05:38 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Robbie@Jun 11 2003, 20:20 * ** In the Port Authority, there used to be "Black Israelites" who would preach about the most idiotic things (that Jesus was black, Whites were evil, etc.) In the past number of times I've been there I haven't seen them. **
Do you want them back? They hang out in Venice Beach and Downtown LA hollering their claims to one and all. Funny you should bring them up. For years they were down at the beach as just mentioned, one day I saw them yelling at Irv Rubin and friends (may he rest in pieces). Needless to say, Rubin and crew kept their distance, they were outnumbered with no cops around to "help them". Anyway, I go to NYC in '97, and there's a bunch of clowns in the Port Authority, same getup, same signs, same rhetoric. I thought the entire country had been infected. (yeah, I know, it has)
The problems of black shoplifters are the same all over the country. In LA, we have the added dimension of Mexicans who seem to be trying their damndest to outperform blacks when it comes to shoplifting, among other things. There's even an old joke about the groups and their propensity for stealing. "Why won't Mexicans marry blacks?" "I don't know." "They're afraid their children will be too lazy to steal." (And the old standby; What do you get when you breed a Mexican with an Octopus? I don't know, but it sure can shoplift.)
EVERYBODY knows blacks (and mestizos) steal, and steal, and steal. There's a lawsuit going on out here against Six Flags Magic Mountain Amusement Park. It seems that blacks and 'spanics are kicked out of the park waaaaaaaaaaaay more often than those evil Whites and sneaky Asians. Most of the time they are kicked out for trying to cut in line. (The lines are horrendous during the summer) Oh no, it's profiling. I don't know about you, but when I picture loudmouth teens cutting in line or shoplifting, I generally don't picture White kids or Japanese tourists. Part of the lawsuit also addresses the "problem" of the park's security following certain people of color just because of the way they are dressed. You should have seen the local NBC station's news crew with their hot "undercover" video of this horrible action. They sent an Hispanic "accountant" and some of his friends to the park to see if they'd be followed. Sure enough, they were. However, the 'spanic numbers cruncher and his brown friends were dressed just like latino gangbangers: baggy pants, pendelton shirts, the whole enchilada. What's really bothering the blacks and browns is the fact that the LA County Sheriff's dept. has a sub-station at the park, manned with quite a few deputies, and the Valencia Sheriff's station is a stone's throw from the park. Mucho arrests, very quick arrests, when the oppressed peoples get out of line. It galls them to no end.
Someone, one of the lawyers for the besieged stores, anyone who gets some airplay, should step up and say that the blacks wouldn't be followed or profiled if there weren't so many of them stealing. All the time. Every day. But, that's a whole new can of worms in today's cowardly America. For now.
2003-06-12 13:15 | User Profile
Ah yes, the same old complaints about racial profiling.
Guess what, all you blacks? There's a really good reason why we do it. Racial profiling, along with other kinds of profiling works. It is accurate more often than it is wrong.
If these self-proclaimed black leaders would tell all of their brothas and sistas to change their behavior, all of that profiling wouldn't be necessary. But of course that isn't going to happen any time soon. It's much easier to complain about Whitey.
2003-06-24 02:47 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Roy Batty@Jun 12 2003, 05:38 * ** You should have seen the local NBC station's news crew with their hot "undercover" video of this horrible action. They sent an Hispanic "accountant" and some of his friends to the park to see if they'd be followed. Sure enough, they were. However, the 'spanic numbers cruncher and his brown friends were dressed just like latino gangbangers: baggy pants, pendelton shirts, the whole enchilada. **
(I didn't see that)
When TV stations do these undercover gigs, their agents often try to provoke what they're looking for. Of course, the hispanic "accountant" and his pals were dressed like punks. They certaintly acted like punks to attract attention, but that stuff would have been edited-out.
Maybe Security should be focused on granny who sits on a bench most of the time to rest her legs.
2003-06-24 04:59 | User Profile
So did she have a reciept for the belt? Did they have camera recordings of her stealing the belt?
One thing the jews 'aint good for is facts.
2003-06-25 09:50 | User Profile
Originally posted by Roy Batty@Jun 11 2003, 23:38 * *EVERYBODY knows blacks (and mestizos) steal, and steal, and steal. There's a lawsuit going on out here against Six Flags Magic Mountain Amusement Park. It seems that blacks and 'spanics are kicked out of the park waaaaaaaaaaaay more often than those evil Whites and sneaky Asians. Most of the time they are kicked out for trying to cut in line. (The lines are horrendous during the summer) Oh no, it's profiling. I don't know about you, but when I picture loudmouth teens cutting in line or shoplifting, I generally don't picture White kids or Japanese tourists. Part of the lawsuit also addresses the "problem" of the park's security following certain people of color just because of the way they are dressed. You should have seen the local NBC station's news crew with their hot "undercover" video of this horrible action. They sent an Hispanic "accountant" and some of his friends to the park to see if they'd be followed. Sure enough, they were. However, the 'spanic numbers cruncher and his brown friends were dressed just like latino gangbangers: baggy pants, pendelton shirts, the whole enchilada. What's really bothering the blacks and browns is the fact that the LA County Sheriff's dept. has a sub-station at the park, manned with quite a few deputies, and the Valencia Sheriff's station is a stone's throw from the park. Mucho arrests, very quick arrests, when the oppressed peoples get out of line. It galls them to no end.
**
I remember seeing that report on the local news. And I too noticed that el accountanto was dressed in a manner that would raise an eyebrow no matter what his race. I also noticed that there was no "control" group; there wasn't a Latrino sent in to the park dressed in non-threatening attire, to determine if there was profiling based exclusively on race occuring.
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