A clerk at a convenience store in Santa Fe, NM., called the police a 22-year-old college student because he was “arrogant and black.”
On August 2, Jordan McDowell recorded the employee on his cellphone and, told local station KRQE that he was racially profiled when he went into the store to buy candy. While speaking on the phone, the employee can be heard saying, “and I want him out of the store right now.” After a pause, the employee can be heard saying “because he’s being arrogant, because he’s black.”
“In that moment, the only thing I felt at that small moment was rage,” McDowell told KRQE . “But at the same time too I understood that racism in America never truly died.”
The station reports that after McDowell purchased the candy, he continued to look around the store. That’s when he noticed the clerk was, “in the corner the whole time watching.”
Santa Fe Police were dispatched to the call, which was listed as “disorderly conduct.”
Once police arrived, McDowell says he and the employee spoke to the officer. According to McDowell, the officer didn’t ask to see his ID and acknowledged that he didn’t do anything wrong.
KRQE spoke to the employee seen in McDowell’s video and she denied speaking of McDowell’s race. After she showed the employee the video clip, she continued to deny speaking of McDowell’s race, then refused to speak any further about the incident.
The store’s corporate offices did not return KRQE’s request for comment but, a man who identified himself as a store manager called the employee’s behavior unacceptable.
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