New Mexico store clerk calls 911 on customer for being ‘arrogant and black’

[phands]

Unmistakable racism this time...

22-year-old college student Jordan McDowell says he recently found himself getting racially profiled while in a convenience store in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


Local news station KRQE reports that McDowell, a pre-med student from Xavier University who was visiting New Mexico, was in a Santa Fe convenience store buying candy when he heard the store clerk making a 911 call asking for police assistance in removing him from the store.


In a video recorded by McDowell, the employee can be heard telling the 911 dispatcher that “I want him out of the store right now… because he’s being arrogant, because he’s black.”


The police arrived at the store and talked with both McDowell and the clerk. According to McDowell, the responding officer never asked to see his ID and acknowledged that he hadn’t done anything wrong. It isn’t clear if the police actually wrote up a report on the incident, KRQE reports.


The store clerk in the video initially denied that she mentioned McDowell’s race during her call to 911 — even after KRQE showed her video of herself saying she wanted him to leave the store “because he’s black.”


She then refused to answer any further questions about the incident.

The video is at the link....

 

[Worldtraveller]

There needs to start being consequences (directly, from the police) for this kind of harassment. I hope, at the very least, this idiot gets fired.

 

[bilby]

There needs to start being consequences (directly, from the police) for this kind of harassment. I hope, at the very least, this idiot gets fired.

I don't know if it applies in the US, but in many countries, calling the cops on someone who is not breaking the law can get you arrested and charged with 'wasting police time'.

 

[Derec]

 

[ZiprHead]

Jealous?

 

[Emily Lake]

That surprises me. Santa Fe is a fairly racially diverse town.

 

[Politesse]

It doesn't surprise me. I've seen some nasty racism in northern New Mexico.

 

[laughing dog]

It doesn't surprise me. I've seen some nasty racism in northern New Mexico.

Wait a minute. As has been pointed out numerous times, racist actions are not proof of racism.

 

[Politesse]

It doesn't surprise me. I've seen some nasty racism in northern New Mexico.

Wait a minute. As has been pointed out numerous times, racist actions are not proof of racism.

That's true. But we are discussing a public racist act. The interior heartsong of the store clerk, clear and pure and innocent though it may be, is irrelevant to the discussion.

 

[Trausti]

Yeah, this would be racism.

 

[Emily Lake]

It doesn't surprise me. I've seen some nasty racism in northern New Mexico.

I've seen varieties of racism throughout NM, but it seems to be often directed against First Nations, with Mexicans in a not-very-distant second. I don't know that I've run across racism toward black people, but maybe I just missed it, or maybe Albuquerque is just enough metropolitan to side-step it some.

 

[Politesse]

It doesn't surprise me. I've seen some nasty racism in northern New Mexico.

I've seen varieties of racism throughout NM, but it seems to be often directed against First Nations, with Mexicans in a not-very-distant second. I don't know that I've run across racism toward black people, but maybe I just missed it, or maybe Albuquerque is just enough metropolitan to side-step it some.

That I will grant you. But that may have to do with their not being especially numerous. I know my black friends hit a lot of awkwardness and sometimes worse from others, back when I used to live in Durango. Assuming they weren't real customers, making snide remarks, etc. Different state but similar cultural mileu.

 

[Valjean]

New Mexico doesn't have many blacks. They're a minority amongst minorities, and Santa Fe's a pretty liberal town.
I wonder what Mr McDowell did to catch the attention of the clerk. How was he being "arrogant?"

 

[Politesse]

New Mexico doesn't have many blacks. They're a minority amongst minorities, and Santa Fe's a pretty liberal town.
I wonder what Mr McDowell did to catch the attention of the clerk. How was he being "arrogant?"

If it were impossible to experience racism in a liberal town, my own SF Bay area would be a very, very different place. Alas, prejudice is resilient and inventive.

 

[Arctish]

New Mexico doesn't have many blacks. They're a minority amongst minorities, and Santa Fe's a pretty liberal town.
I wonder what Mr McDowell did to catch the attention of the clerk. How was he being "arrogant?"

I have a relative who once mentioned a black family that lived near her. She was quick to add that they were "country blacks". My husband asked if there was a difference and she replied "Oh, yes. Country blacks are good people. Very respectful." Apparently black people who live in cities aren't good people; you can tell they aren't good by the insufficiency of their respect for white folks.

I wonder if that clerk shares my relative's worldview.