On Tuesday, civil rights activist Al Sharpton says he and other community leaders sat down with the CEO of Barneys New York for a "candid" meeting in regards to the recent allegations of racial profiling at luxury-item department stores, reports the Washington Post.
The private meeting with CEO Mark Lee was held at Sharpton's National Action Network office in Harlem and addressed two incidents in which black customers claimed they were detained by police on suspicion of credit card fraud after making legimate high end purchases.
Lee said after the meeting that Barney's own initial investigation showed no employee "was involved" in the two instances.
In a similiar case, Hollywood actor Robert Brown has also recently alleged that he, too, was falsely accused and detained by police for credit card fraud while shopping at Macy's flagship store on 34th Street in NYC.
As a result, the New York state attorney general is investigating Macy's Inc and Barneys New York Inc and demanding the stores to turn over information about their policies for detaining and questioning customers based on race, reports Reuters.
These cases have sparked a national debate about race in America in which African Americans claim they are criminalized for simply "shopping while black."
Natasha Eubanks, the CEO of the popular celebrity website theYBF.com, explained to ABC News that being racially profiled in stores is deeply ingrained in the black experience in America. "It's one thing if you don't understand. But don't ever tell me it doesn't happen to me," she said, admitting that she has been discriminated against at least 20 times while shopping in New York City. "You can't assume it doesn't happen just because it doesn't happen to you."
She added that it often takes clerks more than five minutes to acknowledge her presence. Either that or they brush her off after a token greeting or ask her question after question: "You're a black girl up in Chanel. They want to know what you're doing here, and what you do for a living."
She continued, "I don't look like that typical chick who walks into that type of store. It feels differently than when you go into a store and are treated properly."
According to Jerome Williams, a business professor at Rutgers University who has studied marketplace discrimination, many people justify racial profiling by saying that black customers are more likely to steal. However, one study has shown that white women in their 40s engaged in more shoplifting than other demographic groups, Williams said.
"The reason they don't show up in crime statistics is because people aren't watching them," said Williams.
Statistics showing that black customers steal more "are not really an indication of who's shoplifting," he said. "It's a reflection of who's getting caught. That's a reflection of who's getting watched. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."