A couple of black women are suing Victoria’s Secret for $4 million each after they were victims of racial profiling and were kicked out of one of the stores in Los Angeles. The ladies claim that they were treated like criminals and ordered out of the store by management.
According to MyNewsLA, the lawsuit filed by Shaunda McDaniel and Tammi Robinson alleges:
“…negligence, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false arrest and violations of various state codes.”
The lawsuit also states:
“Plaintiffs were shocked and humiliated to be accused of wrongdoing and to be thrown out of the store as if they were criminals.”
The ladies went to the store in an affluent white neighborhood last June 16 during the store’s semi-annual sale. They were browsing through the sale items when a white customer pushed and shoved the both of them. When McDaniels and Robinson asked the other customer to apologize, the response was “I’m saying nothing to you.”
A manager came over to investigate and said she would call security. All three of them were detained. The managers assumed that the two black ladies were the instigators and told them to leave. The managers did not even attempt to figure out what the real story was.
Management told the plaintiffs, in front of other customers, that they were in the wrong and needed to leave. The plaintiffs were shocked when the manager apologized to the third customer and told her to keep shopping. The lawsuit continues to say that:
“Plaintiffs, because they were black, were racially profiled as suspect, unwanted (and) unworthy of being in (the) store.”
The complaint said the store employees had a “pervasive, racist sentiment” and the black ladies were treated as “suspect.”
This is not the first time a store has been accused of racial profiling. The clothing store, Zara’s, had special codes for dealing with black customers. They used the code term “special order” when dealing with someone that might be shoplifting. They were found to be using that term for all black customers.
It’s 2016, people! The racism has to stop….50 years ago!
Featured image is a screengrab from a YouTube video.
