Tag: Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling, Racial tension, racial unrest

Protests and Outrage after two black men arrested at Philly Starbucks

The ReadyWriter

Protesters gathered outside a Philadelphia Starbucks on Sunday and planned to regroup again on today after two black men were arrested there last week when they allegedly refused to leave.

The original incident occurred last Thursday, when a Starbucks employee called 911 because two black men were sitting inside the café. Soon after they arrived, police handcuffed the men and escorted them out of the shop. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who is black, said the men hadn’t purchased anything and refused to leave, which led to the arrest. Yet a protesting white women said, she’s walks in all the time to use the restroom without purchasing anything and was never arrested.

A video of the arrest and ensuing confusion went viral on Twitter.

Michelle Saahene witnessed the entire event, as she’d been at the Starbucks for nearly an hour. She told NBC News on Sunday that, as a black woman, she was slightly nervous when the police officers entered the coffee shop, but she was then shocked as the two men when they were approached by police officers.

After the two men were refused the bathroom, they just sat at a table silently and played with their phones as they waited for a friend, Saahene told NBC News.

“The cops were asking them to leave because they weren’t purchasing anything,” Saahene said. “[The two men] said they were confused. This is a Starbucks. Since when are people asked to leave a Starbucks who are just sitting there?”

Saahene said that a white man sitting next to her had been at the Starbucks for 30 minutes without making a purchase and a jogger came in and used the bathroom without making a purchase.

That’s one of the reasons she felt compelled to approach the employee who called 911.

“’Did you feel threatened’?” she said she asked the Starbucks barista. “She didn’t look at me. ‘Did you feel like your life was threatened?’ She still didn’t look at me.”

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson swiftly apologized that the 911 call was made and that the two men were arrested. He said that the company planned to investigate the matter and retrain its staff, but said the store manager “never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.”

Unfortunately it’s too late! We’re sounding the call to boycott “StarBucks” everywhere.!!

Conversations Of A Sistah, Racial Profiling, Racial tension, racial unrest, Racially motivated, Tracy L. Bell, Tracy L. Bell - Blog Talk Radio

Another Black Man Killed, Tonight on “Conversations Of A Sistah”

The ReadyWriter

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On July 19, 2015 Samuel DuBose was shot in the head point blank range by a University of Cincinnati police officer during a routine traffic stop. On July 10th Sandra Bland, a 28 yr. old Chicago native allegedly committed suicide after being illegally arrested in a Waller county Texas jail following a minor traffic violation. This is just to name a few.

In the last 3 years African American men and women have been murdered at an alarming rate.

Join me tonight at 6:30 p.m. on “Conversations Of A Sistah” via Blog Talk Radio as we discuss, how African American men and women are being killed at the hands of police at an alarming rate.

I will be taking your calls on this subject at 1-917-889-7872. Please press “1” to speak with the host!

All “Conversation links” in this post will access the online show.

See you on the air!

Barney's, Law and order, Lawsuits, Profiling, Racial Profiling, Racially motivated, Racist

Barney’s agrees to pay $525K for profiling black customers

The ReadyWriter

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Barney’s New York has agreed to pay $525,000 in fees and penalties for racially profiling two Barney’s customers.

The settlement was reached after a nine-month investigation by the New York state attorney general’s office.

The investigation was launched after college student Trayon Christian and nursing student Kayla Phillips were stopped by Barney’s employees in separate incidents after the students purchased expensive items from the New York flagship store.

Trayon said he was accused of theft by a N.Y.P.D. cop after he purchased a $359 Ferragamo belt with a debit card. And Kayla said she was harassed when she bought a $2,500 Céline bag from the same store.

Both have filed lawsuits against the store and the N.Y.P.D. for violating their civil rights.

From Huffington Post:

Investigators reviewed a series of complaints from Barneys customers and former employees, who claimed that door guards would exclusively single out minority customers and that in-store detectives would follow these customers as they walked around. Some salespeople tried not to work with minority shoppers to avoid the hassle of being roped into investigations about them, the complaints alleged.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office found that a “disproportionate number” of black and Latino customers had been detained at Barneys on suspicion of shoplifting or credit card fraud. It concluded that Barneys lacked the proper “comprehensive written policies” to curb racial profiling.

“Profiling and racial discrimination remain a problem in our state, but not one we are willing to accept,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “This agreement will correct a number of wrongs, both by fixing past policies and monitoring the actions of Barneys and its employee to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated.”