I remember going to a store called Plato's Closet with one of my close friends. This is a store were people bring gently worn really nice clothes and sell them to the store, who in turn sells it to it's customers. Well my friend brought in some really nice clothes, and at the same time this caucasion lady brought in some stuff also. They have a list of brands that they take, and my friend had some of them all. My friend dropped off her bag and started to browse. Not even a minute later she was paged to the front of the store and the young lady told her that they couldn't use any of her stuff. She even had items that still had tags on them. There was another young lady that worked there that was sitting on the floor going through the caucasion lady's bag very thoroughly. My friend didn't get upset, she got her bag and left.
The way my friend was treated at Plato's Closet was very prejudice. Because she was African American the store workers assummed that her clothes weren't good enough or even worth going through the bags for.
This incident brought about a lot of different feelings for me. It took me back to the days where African Americans were considered less than other races.
I don't know if things will ever change. Everyday I think things are getting better and better, and there is always a situation as such that makes me feel differently.
Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI had a similar situation at a children's clothing store in my own community. However, I felt that I was treated differently due to my class. The owner of the store is known to have certain customers she prefers to buy from, and they are all a much higher income than I. While they did choose 3 items out of 3 bags full of clothes, I knew there were several more in the bags that were worth much more than the ones they chose. I felt very put down in the store that day, and haven't been back.
Lea
Katrina,
ReplyDeleteIt is so very sad that your friend was treated this way. I don't understand how we can still live in a world where people are treated with such disrespect just because of the color of their skin. I agree with you it seems like every time you think things are getting better something such as this happens and makes you rethink it. I wish that everyone could just realize that we are all human and should treat others as we want to be treated.
Catherine
Now that you are older or have more knowledge do you think you would do things differently? Would you talk to your friend? Would you ask the workers why they did not choose any of clothes? It makes me sad that there are still people out there in the world that treat people differently based on the color of their skin.
ReplyDeleteI think that if I was in that store, I would have had to confront the store manager. If we dont start to hold them accountable this will continue to happen. Do you think you would handle this differently if this happened after learning everything in this course?
ReplyDeleteLisa