For minorities, shop and frisk is the policy

When I was in high school, the craze for Hollister and Abercrombie was in full swing.

Their clothes were not something everyone could afford, which only added to the clothing’s exclusivity.

I distinctly remember going to one of Hollister’s cavern-like stores as a high school freshman and being hounded by what I believed to be just really attentive store associates every couple of steps.

What I didn’t realize until later is that those employees weren’t really asking if they could be of assistance.

What they were really doing was following me around the store waiting for me to shoplift, since clearly a Mexican boy like me couldn’t possibly afford what they were selling.

Recently, groups have called for a boycott of the luxury retailer Barney’s after similar allegations of racial bias were launched against the retailer when four black shoppers were each separately detained after making purchases at Barney’s. In none of the instances were charges filed against the shoppers.

It’s public and ugly circumstances such as these that remind us prejudice is still alive and well in 2013.

Racial profiling continues to be something minorities must always be conscious of, no matter if they’re in New York or in New Orleans.

According to Barney’s and Macy’s, the questioning of shoppers was carried out by the New York Police Department independently. And if that turns out to be true, then the prickly issue of selective policing will come into play in a city already plagued by allegations of racial discrimination by its police department.

Still, a former Barney’s security officer claimed in a deposition that staff was expected to make at least five shoplifting arrests each week.

If this also proves to be true, it’s unlikely the staff was looking for potential shoplifters in high heels, but rather looking for potential criminals in Jordans.

Despite all the outrage, this situation is likely to end in settlements and various press releases by the company’s PR team apologizing for the incidents.

But what we should take from this is that prejudice is ever-present, even in the shining example of racial integration that is New York City.

Still, for many it’ll be easy to dismiss racial bias such as this. I mean, we have the first black president in White House. What more equality could we possibly want?

­— edsalas@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Eduardo Salas on Twitter @seibbe.