Consumer Racial Profiling

Shopping while black: Consumer racial profiling

Shopping while black is a commonly used phrase for the type of discrimination in the marketplace also known as consumer racial profiling. Shopping while black discusses the poor services that black people are given or the experience of being denied services in the marketplace because of their skin color (Pittman, 2017). It involves black customers being followed everywhere they go as they shop or being inspected by shop securities persons who think that the black customers may steal. Also, black customers may also be denied access to some stores because store owners think that they cannot afford any commodity, they are asked to produce more forms to identify themselves. Further, they are given shopping limits, charged at higher prices than the rest and so forth.<\/p>

Consumer racial profiling in various retail stores

Consumer racial profiling may also involve the customer asking for an item from a store, and he or she is denied the item by the store attendant who may tell the customer that that particular item is not available in the store. This could be the store's policy not to sell items to black customers or agreements between the owners and the attendants of the store. Shopping while black happens on various retail stores such as clothing malls, grocery stores, supermarkets, house supply companies, and shops. The most known companies that have been accused of consumer racial profiling include Wal-Mart, Dillard’s, office max, sears, and Macy’s (Brewster et al., 2014).<\/p>

Mistreatment based on race and the collection of personal information

Businesses may take their customers’ personal information so that they can have information on who is using their products and services. This might be of help to the businesses as it helps them to know which customers like certain products and who does not like others. However, this information may be used to mistreat other consumers based on their race (Mogensen, 2017). Some of the stores that practice consumer racial profiling may single out customers especially black customer and scrutinize them or frisk them further before allowing them to access the commodities. As a result, some blacks have filed cases against various restaurants and other stores because of consumer mistreatment on a racial basis.\u00a0<\/p>

Attempts to end customer racial profiling

There have been several attempts to end customer racial profiling in the United States as this is the leading country in shopping while black. The following are some of the previous strategies that tried to stop consumer racial profiling. There has been anti-racial profiling training among the police and security guards as well. The Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre is one of the bodies that have taken measures to end racial profiling. It believes that by training the police on anti-racial measures will help to reduce customer racial profiling in the stores and restaurants.<\/p>

Former president of United States of America promised to end racial profiling. In February 2001, said that he would not hinder the work of the police, but he would stop the abuses of the blacks so that the public would also have a strong trust in the police. The police and security guards are the ones who are involved in harassing blacks and therefore if they are ordered to stop abusing them, even the shop and store owners will also follow suit.<\/p>

Conclusion

In conclusion, customer racial profiling is an evil act that should be eliminated by all means. Every consumer deserves equal and fair treatment at the marketplace and all other public places. The government should put across measures that protect every person from discrimination, harassment, and abuse at the marketplaces.<\/p>

References

Brewster, Z. W., Lynn, M., " Cocroft, S. (2014, June). Consumer racial profiling in US restaurants: Exploring subtle forms of service discrimination against black diners. Sociological Forum (Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 476-495).

Mogensen, A. (2017). Racial Profiling and Cumulative Injustice. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.

Pittman, C. (2017). “Shopping while Black”: Black consumers’ management of racial stigma and racial profiling in retail settings. Journal of Consumer Culture, Doi: 1469540517717777.