RF: Woman Defiantly Denies Stealing from a Supermarket!

In a Saturday Night Live sketch, most of the African American members of the cast and the host of the night Zoe Kravitz (also black) experience the Amazon Go store. The premise is you’ve already paid for your items and you can just leave the store without exchanging any currency or using a credit or debit card. With comic trepidation as to the social stigma black people are thieves, each of the honest characters with higher levels of melanin all hesitate to purchase items from the establishment.

This scenario, in an opposite way, played out in real life. A woman found herself accused of a five finger discount at a grocery store somewhere in America.

Her demeanor at first displayed reserve, even politeness. She declared she would not see her rights violated. Her whole behavior suggested someone who was wrongfully accused.

As the owners of the store continued to press the woman, she became more irate. As the security guard and manager (?) attempted to block the woman’s path to exit the store, they continued to pursue her. So, she found an alternate route out of the place and once she was outside with her groceries, she was mildly accosted by the manager (?).

Once he touched her she screamed, “How dare you touch me!” She then rushed back into the supermarket and made a plan she would be suing all involved.

The reality of what it’s like to be associated with criminality in the African American world is deeply rooted in the fabric of this nation. For anyone with a darker complexion to even consider shoplifting, or any other offenses, must remember the walls of the penitentiary, This woman clearly paid for her items and had the right not to produce a receipt. She took the time to deal with the grocery store staff patiently until things escalated. But wouldn’t anyone who purchased items be angry too, if he or she got caught up in a web of lies pertaining to their buying items?

What this scene showed was African Americans have a long way to go before they could can become fully recognized as first class citizens. The Civil Rights Movement (or precisely the Individual Rights Movement) marked progress in this country. However, it had failed like the 1964 Civil Rights Act which trampled over the rights of private property owners.

In a world where segregation should be legal, to let the individuals of America determine who is the smarter merchant: the one who sells to just their skin color and claims blood and soil, or the one who says whoever they say is permitted in their businesses can trade with them.

By taking into account the idea of the woman above fighting (almost physically, literally) anyone for her ability to shop as she pleased, she sensed that she was in fact a victim. At the same time, the grocery store should be able to bar her from ever returning to the store.

If this woman takes her case to lawyers, she would will likely have a case. She could discuss how she was harassed, even after she decided to speed out of the door. When she was confronted a final time, an employee asked her to stop recording the entire exchange. What are the rights here? Should she as a private citizen keep the camera rolling, or should the private business have sway over who can video under that roof?

Whatever the issue, the woman was in the right for being defiant and staunch in her position that she was an upstanding citizen who paid her own way. Could she one day see what it’s like to experience the Amazon Go store?