Oops, Suspect is a Senator
By George Anderson
A State Senator, the first black women ever elected to Oregon’s Legislature, Margaret Carter, claims she was singled-out by Fred Meyer employees for shoplifting after an exit alarm went off in the store last week.
State Senator Carter, a Democrat from Portland, wondered “why, if a buzzer went off, two or three white customers leaving at the same time weren’t searched as well,” according to an Associated Press report on the Fox 39 Web site.
State Senator Carter was in the store to buy steak. She had a receipt and was able to leave after producing it.
Fred Meyer had no comment on the incident but said it was looking into it.
Moderator’s Comment: Are retailers going too far in
singling out minority consumers as shoplifting suspects? Will the accusations
of racial profiling have any affect on store security measures?
Jerome Williams, director of the Center for Marketplace
Diversity at Howard University said minority shoppers are tired of racial profiling
practices and, unlike the past, are willing to fight back. He said, “People
recognize they have some legal rights now.” [George
Anderson – Moderator]