Shopping While Black: a social experiment
I came across this interesting experiment that TV news network ABC hosted. A black actress and two brave store workers agreed to stage a scene at an upscale clothing store in SoHo New York, one of the busiest and trendiest shopping areas in the world.
When random shoppers came in, the shop workers would begin harassing the black actress posing as a customer. Verbally abusing her, telling her she “can’t afford the merchandise” and “we know why you are here”, they would ask her to leave and even go as far as frisking her in full view of the other shoppers.
It made for some interesting observations as to who responded and who didn’t. Peep the video:
I’m way more surprised at who didn’t respond and come to this woman’s help than who did.
What was interesting as well was the location they chose. Rappers have written verses about how they couldn’t catch a cab in Soho, and black people have been given the “side eye” in this area whether shopping at the upscale stores or at the corner liquor store. Hell, even I was given the eye at the 7-11 around the corner from my place in Northern California. Apparently when there are more than three black males in the owner’s store at the same time, he starts to stare at folks (shrug).
During this experiment, one thing was blurted out that really took the game up a notch. It was called “The Black Card.”
Also known as The Race Card, this ignorant man decided to place blame on the poor lady being discriminated against, rather than considering the possibility that it was racism being acted out in front of him. So sure he’ll get all bold with his white friends…
But when confronted by those who conducted the experiment, he got all friendly and attempted to cast the event as the water cooler “hey buddy, weren’t those the good ol days” type of affair. What a tool. You felt so bad?! Go play in traffic.
Watching the shopper who ended up crying as a result of being so disturbed by what she witnessed, was a very emotional moment.
All I know is if my aunt had been there, she’d have ended up shutting the place down and then taking over the boutique herself! Black folk don’t play that!
Anyways reader, we all know that anyone can be discriminated against. If you had a moment in which you were discriminated against or know someone else who was, let’s hear it in the comments!
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rhaps says:
October 17th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Even though we are in a new era there are still people who can't seem to get out of the dark ages. How sad.
andre says:
October 17th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
it really is very sad…
tiferet says:
October 21st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
I had the whole “being followed around in the store because they’re sure you’re gonna steal from them” experience in Omiya, Japan. It was totally unnerving until I figured out that because of the way I was dressed and my accent they had decided I was half-white/half-Japanese from the local military base (hence a target of discrimination) rather than the American tourist I actually was. Very educational regarding what others go through every day of their lives.
Sheila J. says:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Honestly, the closest I can recall to something like this happening was during a school band trip, a lot of the students were incensed by the security watching us so closely…& while I don't doubt that the fact that the majority of us were black, I'm sure it didn't help that it was a sudden flood of young students…which is another type of discrimination. I've dealt w/ quite a lot of weight discrimination in my life, along w/ an odd sort of racial discrimination.
Oddly enough, the racial harassment I've received was more often than not from other blacks. I was ostracized for my dark skin, for speaking proper English, for "acting white", for listening to music other than rap or hip hop/R&B. All completely ridiculous. But because I do not fit all the stereotypes neatly, I'm obviously "ashamed" of my skin or I'm not being true to who I am. I've grown up in & lived in the South pretty much all my life…there are more "rednecks" & "Good Old Boys" who treat me kindly than their are of those of my own race, who usually write me off the second I open my mouth. Now how's that for discrimination? "You're an intelligent, well-read woman with many diverse interests who is also black…we don't like you for that."
I've been accused of being discriminating myself, as I put distance between myself & the types who immediately label me as an "uppity black" or an "oreo". I don't doubt it's true. It's a learned behaviour based on what I've dealt w/…but it doesn't always mean it's right or fair.
Maybe I have been the victim of "shopping while black"…but just never realized as they've never been so up front as the employees in this scenario or maybe I've just lived a charmed life in that respect.
andre says:
October 21st, 2009 at 8:49 pm
definitely. thank you for sharing Tiferet!
uberVU - social comments says:
October 21st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Digg by kaelyiesta: I’ve seen a few of these experiments so far posted on digg and I think it’s a good thing to get an indicator of sorts to see how far our social progress has come. It’s hard not to get emotional though, …
akb427 says:
October 21st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Discrimination is still so common in America that your comments section could probably not contain the stories.
My next door neighbor growing up, a black man, was police commissioner of a medium-sized city. Then he was kicked upstairs to being a judge. Then some mall security guards at the ritzy upscale mall busted him for shoplifting. I think the settlement was pretty good.
My first girlfriend was black. All the black kids at school gave us the hairy eyeball; I asked her once if there was anything I could do to get them to think I was ok, and she told me no, they just weren’t going to accept me.
One time around maybe 7AM she was walking to work, down the main street of Orange, VA. A pick-up truck going down the street U-turned, pulled up next to her, the driver manually cranked down the window, yelled “Get out of town n______!” and then U-turned again and drove away. He took time out of his day just to spout bigotry.
Asian acquaintance of mine has sometimes been told to go home to China. Being from Connecticut, he’s not really sure what to make of this except perhaps to tell people to go back to Europe.
Shortly after 9-11, a Jewish (Semitic looking) friend of mine was pulled over in a random traffic stop, and it turned out his license was suspended for an out-of-state ticket he’d never dealt with. Upon being taken to the police station, he was placed in a cell handcuffed and in leg irons. Four hours later he was brought before the judge who wondered what the heck was going on and had them immediately remove the hardware.
I’m white and live in the northeast and this is a tiny fraction of the experiences of racism I’ve encountered.
Lunchtime Link Love: Tom Cruise, American Psycho | Scanner says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 am
[...] had the idea for an experiment called “Shopping While Black.” It’s about what you’d expect if you set a “Driving While Black” stunt in an [...]
kirbee says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
How sad, racism is alive and festering in the world still….even here in Canada, there is tons of discrimination towards the first nations people.
We’re all human. Get over yourselves!
Michael says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Well, where to begin. I’m white, and I deal with racism almost every time I interact with a member of another race.
My car was broken into by a Mexican kid. Before he knocked my brother unconscious with a crowbar he had plenty of racist things to say about white people. If the roles were reversed, it would surely be a “hate crime.” As it was though, it was just “We usually don’t recover property stolen from cars sir, sorry.”
I’ve been accosted by black people on the street and called names while literally doing nothing but minding my business and walking to work.
I’ve been given strange or dirty looks at almost every minority owned establishment I’ve ever made the mistake of visiting.
White people are far and away the group that suffers the most discrimination in the US today.
Andrew Lee says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I was discriminated about 5 years ago in Best Buy in Westfield, Indiana.
I was with my friend (white) and we were walking around the store while my car was in the audio-installation shop getting work done (expensive work).
Meanwhile, Best Buy’s “security team” had been watching me on the camera and attempted to accuse me of stealing an mp3 player even though I was with my friend the whole time. What was ironic was he was not accused.
It was a very unfortunate incident.
Darrel says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Problem is that so many African Americans as demonized in the media and on television that whites, blacks and other races are very suspicious of them. Not saying it right just a reality when you see the TrueTv shows with gangster black kids committing all types of violent crimes. African Americas are, in my opinion, the biggest victims of others in their communities by these same types of thugs. There are obviously many reasons for it and much of it is unfair and inaccurate, but any good marketing or PR person will tell you “perception is reality”. Fact is, whether it’s racism or not, African Americans have a bad rap.
Growing up in Louisiana as a kid I experienced way too many negative incidents with African Americans and have a cautious attitude around them as a result. I was regularly subjected to their racist comments and acts of violent, unpredictable behavior. I acknowledge it may be racism to a degree, but it has little to do with skin color than it does with negative experiences from my past.
Vince says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
The girl who cries is a sweetheart and I think I’m in love.
D says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
They should probably do the same experiment with a white person to cover control.
There are plenty of timid people that would not speak out in any scenario.
[video] Shopping While Black – Social Experiment « STREET KNOWLEDGE MEDIA says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
[...] Shopping While Black – Social Experiment Found this over at SoJones and think this is a must see. Shopping While Black is definitely a reality in this [...]
Steve says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
“White people are far and away the group that suffers the most discrimination in the US today.”
Seriously? You need to stop listening to AM talk radio, because that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. As a white guy from Louisiana, I would whole-heartedly disagree with you.
White people do not suffer the most from racism, not even close. There is a double-standard, in that it’s more acceptable for a minority to be racist towards the majority, but that doesn’t mean it happens more often or more severe to the majority.
There is no “shopping while white” experiment for a reason. What you are experiencing is racism, but it’s racism that comes from a real place. For centuries we’ve told the World that America was a place for immigrants to start a new life, but now we tell the brown ones to stay out. And it wasn’t that long ago that blacks weren’t allowed to vote or marry whites or have any kind of legal justice.
White people in this country will never experience that kind of racism, and as such, you don’t get to complain about minorities resenting you for that. You don’t deserve to get mugged, but come on, honestly, white people receive racism the most? You sound like a sheltered child.
SG says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
This happened to my friends I was with at lacoste one time. We all worked in the mall, and went in together just browsing. My two friends are black, I’m white. The greeter at the door ignored us completely, and cheerily greeted everyone before and after us. A security guy started following my friends around the store, pretty blatantly. The whole atmosphere was frigid, and finally we just left. Happy to see awareness increased on things like that, its really upsetting seeing things like that today.
Jeff says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
“White people in this country will never experience that kind of racism, and as such, you don’t get to complain about minorities resenting you for that. ”
Wow, really? Really? Please show me one, just one, “brown one” who was a slave, who couldn’t vote. Can’t find one, can you? Bring two civil war era citizens, black and white, together for an apology session and I’ll agree with you for one second. Until then, maybe you could practice the equality you think everyone should be forced to observe. There should just be a standard of courtesy that applies to every person, regardless of race. You are the racist, sir, of the worst kind (the popular kind).
John M says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Wow, you guys are really falling for this crap journalism?? It made me sick.
The whole thing was a set up to try to make white males look bad. Of course the one woman who cried – not white.
Where are the white people who came to the defense of the woman? I guarantee you they existed, but ABC wouldn’t dare show them cause it will make whitey look good.
The truth is most people(ESPECIALLY whites) would not agree with the racial attitude made by the clerk and many of them would step in and say something (me being one of them), but the extremely slanted journalism does nothing to improve race relations in this country but only worsens them because those who watched it might have more bias towards whites that we are racist. Bulls*t…
Way to go ABC, you guys are doing so much to help this country. What a bunch of tools…
Michael says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Haha Steve.
More whites are killed by blacks than blacks are by whites, and whites outnumber blacks by almost 6 to 1.
Murder is a pretty serious form of discrimination. More serious than "Excuse me sir, can I help you find something?"
The racism you are pretending exists died in the 60s, thank goodness.
These days as a white person, I have a WAY better chance of being carjacked and shot by a black guy because I am white, than he does of being lynched or whatever you think happens to black people in your fantasy guilt-tripped world.
D says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
In response to the commonly-held and highly ignorant belief that “reverse racism” is as much of a problem as racism itself, here’s a really interesting essay I advise you to read:
http://smu.edu/housing/Resources/SS%20Class%20Knapsack%20article.pdf
It studies the effects of “white privilege”, which is something many of us probably don’t even realize we perpetuate.
Steve says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
If you think that the civil war ended the terrible treatment of minorities in this country, then I think this discussion is pretty much over.
And the part about me being a racist? Lolz. Good stuff.
Voompa says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
John M. must’ve not watched the full video clip. There was an awesome defense of the “black shopper” made by two white women with British accents.
Also, the narrator explained that 20 out of 100 shoppers intervened. The sad part isn’t the race of the intervenors, but the fact that 80 out of 100 didn’t care, or accepted the racism as normal, or agreed with the racism.
Charlie says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
This isn’t about discrimination, this is basic psychology. In a group setting, people look around and do what everyone else does…in an emergency situation, often times they do nothing. In the 70s there was a loud, minutes-long murder taht took place in a city…dozens of people heard it, but no one called 911.
This is an unfortunate result of human nature. Not necessarily racism. I’m not saying people aren’t racist, but this experiment is flawed.
Jack says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Everyone suffers racism at some point in their lives. But what you, Michael fail to realize is that white people are by far the most privileged in the country generally being in the highest social-economic class. I’m not trying to minimize your experiences but comments such as “White people are far and away the group that suffers the most discrimination in the US today” only hinders genuine discourse. So the only conclusion I can draw from your comment is that you’re either a troll or have a very narrow view and understanding of discrimination in this country.
Now my point is everyone is born inherently racist. You see it all the time. Even in multicultural areas of the country such as San Francisco and New York people of different ethnic backgrounds tend to live in close proximity of their own race. A quick glance of photos on facebook rarely shows people hanging out in truly diverse groups. White people generally have white friends with a few minority friends. That’s the same for people of different ethnic groups. I wish I have a magical solution to this problem and if you were expecting it I’m sorry to disappoint. I brought it up in hopes that every realizes that it is a huge problem in society and maybe someone here will find a way to lead humanity out of it.
Brian says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I’m not surprised that so few people intervened. Americans are taught to be sheep – don’t interfere, the authorities will take care of it, just watch out for yourself.
Marcia says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I get people pulling the race card on me for being white in an area that doesn’t have a lot of white folk. Racism is a two way street. These people can get away with calling me cracker and saying down with whitey, but if I were to call them a certain derogatory term and say down with black folk, I’d get lynched.
Citizen Anon says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Oh, give me a trucking break. I can’t turn on the TV with out hearing about Black entertainment this, black awards that, black history, black, black, black. What is that? Somebody, quick grab a camera and follow a white person into Walmart, get a video of a white person asking a black person for help. How about this take a camera into a black church in the south and record the sermon. The “white man” is baaaad. Or even better, take your white kid to a park, black kids will run them off. Quote from the black church group, “we don’t play you, because your white” This double-standard, one-way definition of racism needs to stop. NO ONE is falling for it anymore.
ABC says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:05 pm
FUCK ABC. WHAT A BUNCH OF PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLES.
TV ADVERTISING AND PROGRAMMING STIMULATES AND FACILITATES RACISM.
Doug says:
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:56 pm
If this ever happened in real life it wouldn’t to a well dressed, mild mannered black woman like that. It MIGHT happen to a ghetto in-your-face “I has my rights!” type black woman with a few kids with her. The only thing that matters is individuals and businesses have the intrinsic god-given right to do a service for whomever they want, or whomever they don’t want. If they can be forced to service some people they don’t want to, that’s no different than slavery.
john says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 am
And yet people still don’t see how racist black people are towards white people? Everyone must be going blind…
Michael says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:29 am
This guy is always so one sided.
They try to make this seem all racist.
Do the same experiment with a White woman.
I bet the reaction would be the same.
People just don’t get involved.
I’ve seen security hassling white teenagers before and I didn’t say anything. I just wouldn’t have gotten involved. I wouldn’t have gotten involved because I’m just the type of person to not get involved, not because I’m racist. However if I’d been there and didn’t say anything they would have made me out to be some racist asshole, which isn’t the case.
Every time I see this guy shows/articles he’s always trying to stir up something and then the people who don’t come dashing to the defense of people they don’t even know he makes them out as bigots.
I think he’s an idiot…
Quick, somebody post something in his defense or he might approach you labeling you a bigot.
Diana Raven says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:19 am
I’m biracial, white and Ojibwe. If I’m dressed nicely with my hair styled, I seem to get treated better than if I’m wearing jeans and have my hair straight and natural. Once I went alone to a restaurant which I had visited before with my husband and liked, but by myself I could hardly get any service; it was like they were sure I couldn’t afford a tip or even the bill, so why bother refilling my coffee? The sad thing is that some rez Indians hate me for living in the “white” world. It’s just hard out there, we need to support each other wherever we come from.
BillyBob says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Racism exists still because it is naturally built into everyone.
Everyone.
It is amazing how many people I run into that think they cannot be racist because they aren’t white, like whites are the only people who’ll make judgments based off of skin color alone.
BillyBob says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Oh, and if I walked by this scene, I’d just walk on by too.
Why? I’m not racist, I just don’t care if it isn’t me.
There is a difference between racism and being an arsehole.
Jen says:
October 26th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
look at all these pathetic trolls.
Crybaby says:
October 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Waaaahhh, my feeling were hurt, waaaaahhh!
BlackAmerican says:
November 5th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
lollllllllllllllllllllllllll
BlackAmerican says:
November 5th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
and whats your point? IGNORANCE BEGETS IGNORANCE……….WHO STARTED THIS VICIOUS CYCLE OF IGNORANCE?
BHW says:
June 13th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
You can see from this that it takes one person to spek up, then a group will follow. We need more people who are willing to be that first.
Eli says:
June 25th, 2010 at 4:41 am
Well, we all by heart and/or act to say stop racism but we still use meaningless terminology such as WHITE and BLACK.Would someone pls tell me if they saw anybody with a black or white skin? For yr reference pls look at your black shoes and then understand the black color and for the white reference pls see the white paper that you print out on. The skin color varies only between pink and brown. Am I wrong?
Thanks,
Eliyahu Tokatlio