A California woman is suing Walmart for racial discrimination because it allegedly keeps its hair and skin products primarily used by African-Americans in a locked, glass display case — unfairly perpetuating a stereotype that black people are thieves, according to her attorney.
Essie Grundy, a 43-year-old mother of five, told reporters during a news conference in Los Angeles on Friday that she recently visited a Walmart near her home in Perris to buy skin cream and noticed that some beauty products designed for African-American customers were kept under lock and key. Grundy complained and was told the policy was a directive from Walmart’s corporate offices, she said.
But when she returned to buy a 48-cent comb, Grundy told reporters she was “shocked” to find that the item was locked up despite its relatively low cost — and that she needed assistance from a store clerk to take the comb off the shelf for purchase. In contrast, beauty products for other races were readily available and not kept behind glass partitions, according to Grundy and her attorney, Gloria Allred.
“I just feel that we need to be treated equal,” Grundy said, according to KTLA. “It’s no way that we should be treated … just because of a complexion. We are all human and we deserve to be treated as everyone else.”
To make matters even worse, Allred said store employees told Grundy she would need to be “escorted” to the cash register to pay for the products, Newsweek reported.
“It perpetuates a racial stereotype that African-Americans are thieves,” Allred told reporters.
Allred did not specify the amount of damages Grundy is seeking, but the mother’s lawsuit demands an immediate end to Walmart’s policy of “segregated” beauty products, in addition to an apology, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Grundy, meanwhile, said the circumstances weren’t limited to just her local Walmart, as she found similar arrangements at two other nearby locations: Beauty products designed for black shoppers were placed under additional surveillance, while items primarily used by other shoppers were not, she said.
Walmart officials told Newsweek that security measures at each store are based on transactional data gleaned from that location.
“We’re sensitive to this situation and also understand, like other retailers, that some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics and other personal care products are subject to additional security,” the company said in a statement. “Those determinations are made on a store-by-store basis using data supporting the need for the heightened measures. While we’ve yet to review a complaint, we take this situation seriously and look forward to addressing it with the court.”
That transactional data at each location, according to Walmart’s statement, determines the differing levels of security for certain products.
“A high-value item in Washington or California or Colorado is not necessarily going to be a high-value item in Virginia or Tennessee,” the statement continued. “That’s why you have fishing equipment locked up in Florida.”