Shopping while Black is a phenomenon that can only be explained by those of us who have to do it regularly. Sometimes those experiences turn into funny stories for us to share later. Yet, at other times, they end in humiliation and tears as Black people are unfairly targeted by store associates, managers, and security guards simply because of the color of their skin.

This was the case for a Black woman named Kimberly Houzah when she recently visited a Victoria’s Secret store at the Quintard Mall in Oxford, Alabama. 

Houzah captured the altercation via Facebook as she explains that a person who she believed was a store manager asked her and one other Black woman to leave the store after a third Black woman, whom neither of them knew, was found shoplifting from the lingerie store.

As the video starts, you can hear someone saying, “I just need y’all to go” as the confrontation escalates between store staff and another Black woman who appears to be a shopper.

Houzah explains in the video that store staff assumed that the women were “affiliated” with one another because they were all Black. She holds back tears for most of the 11 minute long clip, breaking down at the end when she explains that she “will never step foot in that store again.”

In a post on Facebook, Victoria’s Secret posted and apology to Houzah after her video went viral stating:

“We take the experience of our customer at the Quintard Mall very seriously and have reached out to her directly to express our sincere apology. What happened at our store should not have happened and does not represent who we are or what we stand for. The store associate involved in this matter is no longer employed with the company. Victoria’s Secret is adamant that all customers regardless of race be treated with dignity and respect at all times.”

Photo via Facebook/Kimberly N. Houzah

Author

  • Jenn M. Jackson was born and raised in East Oakland, California, a fact which motivates her writing and academic ambitions. She is a scholar, educator, and writer whose writing addresses Black Politics and civil and public life for young Black people with a focus on policing and surveillance. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of Water Cooler Convos, a culture platform for Black millennials. Her writing has been featured in Washington Post, BITCH Magazine, Marie Claire, EBONY, The Root, Daily Dot, The Independent, and many others. Jackson is a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago studying American Politics with a focus on political participation and engagement, public opinion and social movements. For more about her, tweet her at @JennMJack or visit her website at jennmjackson.com.