What is Consumer Racial Profiling?
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Perhaps you have heard the phrase “Driving While Black or Brown”. If not, this phrase refers to a form of discrimination known as racial profiling. Historically it involves law enforcement’s habit of pulling over African-American or Hispanic drivers, detaining, searching and questioning them with no probable cause. They stop these drivers or pedestrians due to associations/stereotypes/perceptions of Blacks and Hispanic criminal activity or illegal contraband.
Equally disturbing, racial profiling has many faces and affects minority while shopping retail stores hence, the creation of the term “shopping while black.” In this instance, store security or sales personnel “profile” black or minority customers based on expectations of criminal intent. Profiling examples often consist of treating black or minority customers offensively, store clerks asking for I.D. to see merchandise, following you throughout the store and via surveillance cameras to ensure that you don’t steal. Research largely suggest that being well dressed, well groomed, educated, or wealthy does not provide safe harbor. There is no safe harbor for racism. Even high-profile minorities are not exempt from racial profiling. A few examples of many accounts ranging from Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Henry Louis Gates, Sheryl Swoopes and U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters have reportedly been victimized for discrimination, racial profiling or “shopping while black.”
How can you tell if you’re being racially profiled while shopping?
Imagine this - it's Friday evening, you love shopping at the mall and need to pick-up some new clothes for perhaps an outing or for work. Upon arrival, you head over to your preferred store, browse, try on a shirt, pick one you like, and carry your selection to the shoe department to try on a few pairs before you check out. While shopping for shoes, you notice a couple of sale’s people shadowing you but not offering service. Thinking nothing of this, you keep shopping. Suddenly, you are approached and grabbed by store security, detained, accused of shoplifting, handcuffed and escorted through the store to a cold back office, searched, interrogated, photographed and checked for cash before being coerced to pay a cash fine and sign a slip of paper telling you to never return to the store or you will be arrested for trespassing. Shocked, humiliated and confused, you leave the store and your selection behind. Sound familiar? Keep reading.
Though retailers by law have what is titled a shopkeepers privilege, there are some rules of conduct:Elements of Shopkeeper's Privilege
(varies by state) (1) Reasonable time (Question of whether 10-15 minutes is always reasonable) (2) Reasonable manner; (a) identify yourself as an employee (b) give reasons why stopped (c) no unnecessary physical restraint was used (3) Reasonable grounds and is there a factual basis which would support reasonable belief of theft. In addition to this, the following guidelines make the different in ensuring retailers do not falsely accuse innocent people.
Eight lifesaving things you should do if you are falsely accused of theft.
Still don't believe this could happen to you? Let us show you the possibilities. Stubborn residue from racism and discrimination often alerts minority presence in retail stores with heightened suspicion wrought with stereotypical impulses of presumptive associations with criminal activity. You may not know this, however, what you believe to be normal behavior as a minority will increase your likelihood of being racially profiled:
1. YOU do not use a basket or shopping-cart while in store.
2. YOU reach in and out of your pockets or purse. (Putting your cellphone back in your purse looks like a product you don’t own)
3. YOU stoop down to tie your shoe, or pick-up a dropped item out of view of the surveillance cameras or loss prevention staff following you.
4. YOU bring items back to return but walk around the store first, without a shopping bag.
5. YOU spend too much time, in the make-up, purse or jewelry sections.
6. YOU carry items around the store too long, walk near exit doors or travel between floors with products.
7. YOU come into the store with too many people/kids/teenagers.
8. YOU walk around with too many bags from other stores—but they look empty and like your going to steal an item.
Due to under-reporting, out-of-court settlements, humiliation, embarrassment and fear, information detailing the impact of racial profiling in retail stores, is hard to find or put simply, people just don't know it exists. In contrast, others plainly deny its existence or dismiss these complaints as exaggerations of hypersensitive minorities attempting to create, “I gotcha” moments. They believe racial profiling is supported by facts and statistics that support this cruel system as a necessary component of modern crime fighting. Some have also proclaimed that the role of protecting a company’s assets is far more imperative than to continuously worry about minorities or interests groups crying foul or complaining about being victims of unfair targeting. So why should this be important to you? Because if you’re a minority, at some point, you have experienced many or perhaps all of the forms of discrimination and maybe shrugged it off, or worse did not know what to do.
For this reason, we are dedicated to bring the roots of racial profiling to the forefront by exposing the tactics of this brutal system in order to protect minority consumers against the ingrained elements that perpetuate and sustain the vicious cycle of Racial Profiling. Join us today, in the fight for consumer equality!
Equally disturbing, racial profiling has many faces and affects minority while shopping retail stores hence, the creation of the term “shopping while black.” In this instance, store security or sales personnel “profile” black or minority customers based on expectations of criminal intent. Profiling examples often consist of treating black or minority customers offensively, store clerks asking for I.D. to see merchandise, following you throughout the store and via surveillance cameras to ensure that you don’t steal. Research largely suggest that being well dressed, well groomed, educated, or wealthy does not provide safe harbor. There is no safe harbor for racism. Even high-profile minorities are not exempt from racial profiling. A few examples of many accounts ranging from Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Henry Louis Gates, Sheryl Swoopes and U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters have reportedly been victimized for discrimination, racial profiling or “shopping while black.”
How can you tell if you’re being racially profiled while shopping?
Imagine this - it's Friday evening, you love shopping at the mall and need to pick-up some new clothes for perhaps an outing or for work. Upon arrival, you head over to your preferred store, browse, try on a shirt, pick one you like, and carry your selection to the shoe department to try on a few pairs before you check out. While shopping for shoes, you notice a couple of sale’s people shadowing you but not offering service. Thinking nothing of this, you keep shopping. Suddenly, you are approached and grabbed by store security, detained, accused of shoplifting, handcuffed and escorted through the store to a cold back office, searched, interrogated, photographed and checked for cash before being coerced to pay a cash fine and sign a slip of paper telling you to never return to the store or you will be arrested for trespassing. Shocked, humiliated and confused, you leave the store and your selection behind. Sound familiar? Keep reading.
Though retailers by law have what is titled a shopkeepers privilege, there are some rules of conduct:Elements of Shopkeeper's Privilege
(varies by state) (1) Reasonable time (Question of whether 10-15 minutes is always reasonable) (2) Reasonable manner; (a) identify yourself as an employee (b) give reasons why stopped (c) no unnecessary physical restraint was used (3) Reasonable grounds and is there a factual basis which would support reasonable belief of theft. In addition to this, the following guidelines make the different in ensuring retailers do not falsely accuse innocent people.
- A retail employee must see the shoplifter approach the merchandise.
- A retail employee must see the shoplifter select the merchandise.
- A retail employee must see the shoplifter conceal, convert or carry away the merchandise.
- A retail employee must maintain continuous observation of the shoplifter.
- A retail employee must observe the shoplifter fail to pay for the merchandise.
- A retail employee must apprehend the shoplifter outside the store.
Eight lifesaving things you should do if you are falsely accused of theft.
- Loss Prevention employees "are not" the police! Call the police and make them review the surveillance video. Also file an assault charge against the employee who assaulted you.
- Do not sign anything or pay any money in exchange for being released. This is extortion.
- Insist on making a call to an attorney or family member.
- Insist on speaking with a manager. If you are dealing with the manager, ask for the next level supervisor.
- If you are not allowed to make a call, insist that they call the police immediately.
- Retail security often inquire how much cash you have. Do not tell them, and do not pay an in-store fine to be released.
- Write down all names, every detail of the incident, time, date, and if possible, record the incident with your smart phone.
- If you are issued a citation, contact a criminal defense attorney, however DO NOT file a lawsuit until after proven not-guilty or the criminal case is dismissed. Our staff, has uncovered at least one national retailer that has attorneys, who also volunteer as prosecutors- who will deviously and clandestinely be assigned to your citation case. Yes, this is prosecutorial misconduct and illegal, but it is designed to ensure your civil lawsuit is weakened and that this malicious prosecution gets you a criminal record. Wait until, your criminal case is dismissed, then file your civil lawsuit.
Still don't believe this could happen to you? Let us show you the possibilities. Stubborn residue from racism and discrimination often alerts minority presence in retail stores with heightened suspicion wrought with stereotypical impulses of presumptive associations with criminal activity. You may not know this, however, what you believe to be normal behavior as a minority will increase your likelihood of being racially profiled:
1. YOU do not use a basket or shopping-cart while in store.
2. YOU reach in and out of your pockets or purse. (Putting your cellphone back in your purse looks like a product you don’t own)
3. YOU stoop down to tie your shoe, or pick-up a dropped item out of view of the surveillance cameras or loss prevention staff following you.
4. YOU bring items back to return but walk around the store first, without a shopping bag.
5. YOU spend too much time, in the make-up, purse or jewelry sections.
6. YOU carry items around the store too long, walk near exit doors or travel between floors with products.
7. YOU come into the store with too many people/kids/teenagers.
8. YOU walk around with too many bags from other stores—but they look empty and like your going to steal an item.
Due to under-reporting, out-of-court settlements, humiliation, embarrassment and fear, information detailing the impact of racial profiling in retail stores, is hard to find or put simply, people just don't know it exists. In contrast, others plainly deny its existence or dismiss these complaints as exaggerations of hypersensitive minorities attempting to create, “I gotcha” moments. They believe racial profiling is supported by facts and statistics that support this cruel system as a necessary component of modern crime fighting. Some have also proclaimed that the role of protecting a company’s assets is far more imperative than to continuously worry about minorities or interests groups crying foul or complaining about being victims of unfair targeting. So why should this be important to you? Because if you’re a minority, at some point, you have experienced many or perhaps all of the forms of discrimination and maybe shrugged it off, or worse did not know what to do.
For this reason, we are dedicated to bring the roots of racial profiling to the forefront by exposing the tactics of this brutal system in order to protect minority consumers against the ingrained elements that perpetuate and sustain the vicious cycle of Racial Profiling. Join us today, in the fight for consumer equality!
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