A California woman is suing retail giant Wal-Mart on grounds of racial discrimination, claiming that it keeps skin- and haircare products used by African-Americans behind locked sliding-glass panels.
The unusual display setup, she argues, serves little purpose other than to perpetuate the stereotype that blacks are taken to criminality.
Plaintiff Essie Grundy, a 43-year old mother of five, said at a news conference that she first noticed the strange disparity in security measures while visiting a Wal-Mart near her home in Perris, CA. She’d wanted to purchase skin cream but noticed that many of the beauty products designed for African-Americans were kept guarded.
Grundy tried complaining to workers and staff on-site.
But instead of being fed an on-the-spot platitude or provided a reasonable explanation, Grundy was told the lock-up was a directive that came all the way from Wal-Mart’s corporate offices.
Not long after, writes the New York Post, Grundy came back. All she’d wanted to buy was a 48-cent hair comb – and was purportedly ‘shocked’ to find it behind a locked glass display case. In order to retrieve and pay for the item, worth less than a candy bar, she had to ask an employee for assistance.
If Walmart is gonna lock up hair products they need to do it for all of them not only the ethnic hair products pic.twitter.com/XcnajuNNsV
— Khadijah (@Kadia2_) January 22, 2018
A Twitter user films the discrepancy between security on African-American beauty products and those marketed toward other races.
What Grundy couldn’t help noticing was that many similar products marketed toward other races weren’t kept under lock-and-key.
“I just feel that we need to be treated equal,” said Grundy, speaking to local news network KTLA. “It’s no way that we should be treated […] just because of a complexion. We are all human and we deserve to be treated as everyone else.”
Grundy’s case has been picked up by Gloria Allred, who claims her client was “escorted” to a cash register to pay for the products she’d had to ask to retrieve.
“It perpetuates a racial stereotype that African-Americans are thieves,” said Allred during a press conference.
Neither Allred nor Grundy have specified how much they’re seeking in damages. But among the conditions of the suit: that Wal-Mart display beauty products for African-Americans with as much or as little security as those marketed toward other races.
In a public statement, Wal-Mart wrote, “We’re sensitive to this situation and also understand, like other retailers, that some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products are subject to additional security.
“Those determinations are made on a store-by-store basis using data supporting the need for the heightened measures. While we’ve yet to review a complaint, we take this situation seriously and look forward to addressing it with the court.”
Moreover, the retailer claimed that transactional data from every store determined which items are offered extra protection.
“A high-value item in California or Colorado is not necessarily going to be a high-value item in Virginia or Tennessee. That’s why you have fishing equipment locked up in Florida.”
Sources
Mom Sues Walmart Over ‘Segregated’ Beauty Products
WOMAN SUES WALMART FOR ‘SEGREGATED’ BEAUTY PRODUCTS, ALLEGES RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
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