Videos of young black man ‘calling out institutional racism’ of American convenience stores take social media by storm

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Videos of young black man calling out institutional racism of American convenience stores take social media by storm

Clips purport to show cashiers following him around thinking he's shoplifting

This series of videos posted online purport to show racial stereotyping in convenience stores across America and in doing so have taken social media by storm.

Posted by Vine user Rashid Polo, they feature a young black high school student filming himself on trips to the shops.

At first this seems entirely mundane until it becomes apparent that the focus of the clip is in fact the member of staff behind Rashid, shuffling displays and generally trying to look casual.

Rashid takes a moment when he is on his own in one video to explain that he is being followed because the clerk thinks he is shoplifting only for the worker to walk round the corner and, to her surprise, straight into shot.

It is impossible to say whether or not the videos really do show store workers keeping an eye on Rashid simply because he is black. But the videos have inspired a heated debate among commenters online, with the behaviour shown either institutional racism at its finest or because a large percentage of teenagers steal.

Some believe the timing of the cashiers appearance in one video is too good to be true and probably scripted, but for the majority there is agreement that her reaction is simply very funny indeed.

Since his six-second #SheThinkImStealing videos have been viewed more than 15 million times between them, Rashid has received plenty of fans online.

And we can likely expect to see plenty more of the young man, who tweeted on Friday: Rashid Polo isn't just a name.... It's a persona... A way of life... One day I will take over.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/videos-of-young-black-man-calling-out-institutional-racism-of-american-convenience-stores-take-social-media-by-storm-9617308.html

Edited July 20, 2014 by Hail Ming!

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/videos-of-young-black-man-calling-out-institutional-racism-of-american-convenience-stores-take-social-media-by-storm-9617308.html

Everyone knows racism is dead. They say it here so it must be true.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Everyone knows racism is dead. They say it here so it must be true.

Racism is made up by the MSM, just like climate change, Obama's birth certificate and the Moon landing...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Reminds me of a similar TV stunt I saw once - they had Yaphet Coto stand on a street corner in NYC and try to flag down a New York taxi at a rank. He was there a while while the cabbies picked up other non-black customers...

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Racism is made up by the MSM, just like climate change, Obama's birth certificate and the Moon landing...

It's a conspiracy made up by the left to keep us dependent on the gubmint. Wow, that hurt just to type...

Reminds me of a similar TV stunt I saw once - they had Yaphet Coto stand on a street corner in NYC and try to flag down a New York taxi at a rank. He was there a while while the cabbies picked up other non-black customers...

In Hong Kong, we had to have a white person decoy in order to catch a cab. They'd pass us up if we didn't have a white or asian person in our group.

[JohnR! 5,495]

It's a conspiracy made up by the left to keep us dependent on the gubmint. Wow, that hurt just to type...

It is part of a conspiracy so secret that everyone knows about...

[lostinblue 1,989]

A person gets flagged by security camera's ... Security alerts employees about said behavior.... Being nervous ect. employees keep eye on person in question... Black folks call it being racist. A friend who managed a store told me teachers were 1st on the list a being shoplifters. as far as a profession goes. All walks of life people were shoplifting... Doctors lawyers.. Retail makes around 2 percent profit .... If you go to China often a clerk is in every part of the store just looking at people.. Don't feel the need to call it racist while shopping. over there.

[Peikko 1,575]

All teenagers are suspected of being potential petty shop lifters I am sure by convenience store owners, but I suspect there is a hierarchy of suspicion with clean looking, affluent teens being viewed as slightly less suspicious than anyone who looks poor or who appears too 'ghetto'. The 'ghetto' look is not restricted to a certain color. Anyone that thinks showing their butt crack is a cool look is likely to be seen as potential thief by a store owner I would think.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

All teenagers are suspected of being potential petty shop lifters I am sure by convenience store owners, but I suspect there is a hierarchy of suspicion with clean looking, affluent teens being viewed as slightly less suspicious than anyone who looks poor or who appears too 'ghetto'. The 'ghetto' look is not restricted to a certain color. Anyone that thinks showing their butt crack is a cool look is likely to be seen as potential thief by a store owner I would think.

That's quite true, which is probably why the article doesn't take a position on whether there is racism or not, just that a lot of people are saying there is. US news wouldn't do that.

[Peikko 1,575]

That's quite true, which is probably why the article doesn't take a position on whether there is racism or not, just that a lot of people are saying there is. US news wouldn't do that.

Indeed, I read that, the article isn't trying to make the racism case, just observing a phenomena and it is an interesting one.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

A person gets flagged by security camera's ... Security alerts employees about said behavior.... Being nervous ect. employees keep eye on person in question... Black folks call it being racist. A friend who managed a store told me teachers were 1st on the list a being shoplifters. as far as a profession goes. All walks of life people were shoplifting... Doctors lawyers.. Retail makes around 2 percent profit .... If you go to China often a clerk is in every part of the store just looking at people.. Don't feel the need to call it racist while shopping. over there.

I've been flagged by security inside of stores before. And I'm 40.

All teenagers are suspected of being potential petty shop lifters I am sure by convenience store owners, but I suspect there is a hierarchy of suspicion with clean looking, affluent teens being viewed as slightly less suspicious than anyone who looks poor or who appears too 'ghetto'. The 'ghetto' look is not restricted to a certain color. Anyone that thinks showing their butt crack is a cool look is likely to be seen as potential thief by a store owner I would think.

Not really. White and Asian kids don't raise the same amount of suspicion that a black person would. There isn't much distinction between the good and bad. I've seen folks get checked by the police while dressed in khaki pants and a button up shirt like they were gang members all the same. Sometimes, when you're trying go beyond the stereotype, it makes some of them mad.

[JIJourney 96]

This is not a race thing at all. Who wouldn't look and be curious of someone talking into a camera? I would look too!