Barneys, Macy's Under Investigation for Racial Profiling
By Beth Greenfield, Shine Staff | Fashion – 4 hours ago
Barneys New York. Photo: Getty ImagesTwo of New York City’s major department storesfind themselves under investigation for racially profiling their shoppers. Both Macy’s and Barneys New York—where a total of four African-American customers have filed complaints for being unjustly accused of theft recently—are being questioned by the state attorney general, according to the New York Daily News.More on Shine: Too-Saggy Pants Banned in Louisiana, Prompts Fears of Racial Profiling
“Attorney General [Eric] Schneiderman is committed to ensuring that all New York residents are afforded equal protection under the law,” Kristen Clarke, who heads the office’s civil rights bureau, wrote to Barneys CEO Mark Lee and Macy’s Chief Stores Officer Peter Sachse, according to letters obtained by and printed in the Daily News on Tuesday. She also notes that “racial discrimination in places of public accommodation,” including in retails stores, is illegal in New York.
Both stores have publicly expressed their sympathies to the accusers, and have denied that their employees were involved in any of the alleged incidents.
More on Yahoo: Oprah Winfrey Apologizes for Racist Handbag Furor
But racial profiling among retail shoppers—a type of consumer racism sometimes referred to as “shopping while black”—is nothing new, according to experts, who say that media firestorms like this one, and like the Oprah handbag incident in August, simply bring attention to an ongoing, somewhat “normalized” problem.
“It’s believed to be a common experience,” Penn State criminology professor Shaun Gabbidon, who has studied the phenomenon, tells Yahoo Shine. In a Philadelphia-based survey he did about racial profiling in retail stores several years ago, he notes, “blacks were 10 times more likely to experience it,” typically in the form of being followed by employees, being asked for extra ID, or being frequently stopped and questioned by security guards or salesclerks.
“In some stores, like Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Saks, salespeople pretend they don’t see you. They literally don’t address your presence,” Natasha Eubanks, editor of the Young, Black and Fabulous website, as well as a high-end New York City shopper, tells Yahoo Shine. “And then sometimes it’s the opposite—they can be on top of you when you walk in, and even when you tell them, ‘I’m good,’ they keep asking what you’re looking for, how they can help you. It’s like they’re trying to show you, ‘You can’t buy this.’ A lot of times it comes off as very condescending.”
In one of the alleged Macy’s incidents, which surfaced last week, Rob Brown, an actor on HBO’s “Treme,” filed a complaint about being arrested in June after being falsely accused of using a stole credit card to buy his mother a $1,350 watch. A man named Art Palmer made another complaint, noting that he was approached by several NYPD cops after purchasing shirts at the department store in April.
At Barneys, meanwhile, Trayon Christian alleges he was detained by police for purchasing a $349 belt with his debit card in April. Another shopper, Kayla Philips, reported being accused of credit card fraud after using her own plastic to buy a $2,500 designer bag in February.
As a result of the complaints, critics have blamed rapper Jay Z—who is releasing a line of high-end merchandise with the luxury department store in November—for not speaking out about racial profiling. He fired back on his website, noting, “The negligent, erroneous reports and attacks on my character, intentions, and the spirit of this collaboration have forced me into a statement I didn't want to make without the full facts.”
The Barneys situation has also drawn the interest of civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who threatened a boycott of the store. On Tuesday morning he hosted what he said during a press conference was a “candid” meeting with Barneys CEO Mark Lee at Sharpton’s National Action Network in Harlem.
Schneiderman’s office did not return calls from Yahoo Shine.
A Macy’s spokesperson tells Shine, “We have received the Attorney General's letter and are fully cooperating with their request.” She also provided a statement, which reads, in part, “Macy’s takes very seriously the accusations made my Mr. Robert Brown. The allegations are especially concerning given that our company does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including racial profiling.” After an internal investigation, the statement continues, the store found that Macy’s personnel were not involved in the incident.
Barneys, on Tuesday, released a statement from Lee, which says, in part, “Barneys New York has zero tolerance for any form of discrimination and we are committed to treating everyone who comes into our stores with respect and dignity. Our preliminary investigation concluded that in both of these instances no one from Barneys New York raised an issue with these purchases, brought them to the attention of internal security or reached out to the authorities. Moving forward, there is a broader issue that needs to be addressed and Barneys New York is committed to being part of the solution.”
Consistent trainings among store employees—and not just occasional sessions to address accusations—are key to eliminating retail racial profiling, Gabbidon notes. “It has to become part of the culture that it’s unacceptable,” he says. And it’s just as important, he adds, for customers to report discrimination in stores, just as they more likely would with police officers for unjust traffic stops. “Very few people report these types of incidents,” he says, which creates a real lack of evidence. "So in a way,” he notes, “the private sector gets a pass.”
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