http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/23/btsc.obrien/index.html?iref=newssearch
Upon looking at news on CNN's website, I ran across a very interesting article written almost a year ago for CNN's TV special Black In America. Easily distracted I decided to read the article and found some interesting and upsetting facts about my company.In the spring or summer of 2008, three African American women were on their lunch break and decided to go shopping instead of their usual gym visit. All three women in their 20's and dressed professionally were wrongly accused of shoplifting and detained for about an hour and a half by police before finding no stolen clothing.What upsets the women the most is the fact that the Old Navy store racially profiled the women, who keep in mind, were professionally dressed in their business attire and were all African American. Another thing that upsets them the most is that no apology was issued by the company shortly after the incident. No apology was granted, Leah Wells, one of the women who was involved in the incident wrote a letter to Gap Inc. In the letter she wrote how humiliated she was and the disdainful stares her and her friends received inside the store that day. It took the editor of the CNN article to investigate before an apology was issued as well as an explanation as to what happened afterwards the manager of the Old Navy store had been fired and they (Gap Inc) realized that it might be too late for an apologize but they issued one and stated that "this goes against everything we believe as a company".
Even though they issued an apology, the fact that they waited so late bothers me. What took them so long to issues one? it is not that hard to come out and say we are sorry for what happened to you. Instead it took numerous letters and emails to be sent to them before they fully came to a realization that they should apologize.Sometimes when you wait to apologize many will believe that the apology is not sincere. As for Leah Wells and her friends, the article does not say if she continues to shop at Old Navy or any of the Gap Inc brands but personally I know I would not. Hopefully Gap Inc has learned from this experience and next time will be more prompt in responding to important issues that are affecting their customers.
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This story is awful and what's even worse is that you know this wasn't the first time! Things like that can happen all the time and most of the time they just go unreported. Racial profiling is something that should be taken seriously by all companies and I really would have expected better from Gap Inc. They seem to not be practicing what they preach and I'm glad that someone was able to expose them for it.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it took them so long is totally unacceptable and I think that this is something you could definitely look into as something that could be a huge problem for all of their stores. I would probably look into more stories like this and see if their are any statistics for people accused of shop lifting and Gap Brand stores every year!
good source!
It is very disturbing to see racial profiling these days, but everyone knows that racism still exists. I find it astonishing that the company took such actions on the three women, dressed “business like” or not. This was a very interesting article to read and I agree with you that late apologies are not always sincere. The time it took for the company to apologize is ridiculous and very harmful to their status. To take something of such small offense, and I am not saying shop lifting is bad it is just not that big of an offense, and to blow it out of proportion, especially when nothing was stolen, really hurts the companies credibility. It is a good article and good that you just stumbled upon it. (This article reminds me of that one episode of Smart Guy, yes I know old school, when Evette worked at that small clothing store in the mall that racially profiled shoppers. Just thought I would throw that out there…)
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