A black Oregon man has been awarded a $4.4 million settlement after a jury ruled he was racially profiled while shopping at Walmart.
Michael Mangum filed a lawsuit last year against the retail giant and one of its employees, alleging that in March 2020 he was followed into a Wood Village, Ore., store by a security worker and then asked leave once he confronted the employee. Mangum had gone to the store to buy a light bulb for his refrigerator, according to the complaint.
Court documents also allege that the security worker, Joe Williams, threatened to call the police if Mangum did not leave the premises. Mangum, who works for a housing project in Portland and as a counselor for at-risk youth, refused to leave.
“His jobs would have been at great risk if he was charged with a crime, but he refused to be intimidated by Williams’ lies and bullying,” said Mangum’s attorney, Gregory Kafoury of Portland, Ore., in a statement Monday.
Williams no longer works for Walmart, company spokesman Randy Hargrove told CBS MoneyWatch, but did not say why. Hargrove called the $4.4 million award “excessive” and said Williams was not going after Mangum.
“Mr. Mangum was never stopped by Walmart’s asset protection,” Hargrove said. “He interfered with our associates while they were on watch and then stopped the confirmed robbers, and then refused to leave despite repeated requests from our staff and Multnomah County deputies.”
Shop while it’s black
Known in the black community as “Shopping While Black,” retail racism occurs when a store employee assumes that a person of color can steal and then stalks or harasses the shopper.
Walmart has been at the center of several such cases, most of which are still ongoing.
Two black men in Texas sued the retailer for racial discrimination in 2021, claiming they were accused of theft and handcuffed by police after trying to return a TV. A black man who works as a corrections officer in Georgia filed a lawsuit this year against Walmart after he was handcuffed and falsely accused of theft, the Washington Post reported.
CVS, Macy’s and other major retailers have also been sued for allegedly racially profiling black customers. A 2021 survey by DealAid of more than 1,000 black consumers found that 90% of respondents have experienced racial profiling while shopping.
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