A Black teen working at a Washington state Lowe's was forced to change clothes when a customer interpreted his “Black Panther Wakanda Forever” shirt as racist, according to KIRO 7. Kyle Sales told the television station his supervisor pulled him aside last weekend and gave him two options: either buy a new shirt or go home and change. “This is from a movie. How is this racist?” he asked.
Still, Sales chose to go home to grab a jersey to throw on over his shirt. “I was very angry. It just did not seem fair in light of all of the things that are happening in our in the world right now,” Sales told KIRO 7. “This isn’t racist. I shouldn’t be punished for a t-shirt from a movie.” The incident happened in Bonney Lake, which is about 40 miles south of Seattle, and the woman’s complaint didn’t end when Sales went home to change.
A friend told Sales the woman later returned to make sure he had been punished. “She came in throwing a fit saying, ‘what happened to that kid – What was his punishment?’” Sales said. Lowe’s spokesperson Sebastian Hale released a statement to KIRO 7 explaining that the teen wouldn’t be punished. “Mr. Sales should never have been asked to change his shirt, and we have apologized to him directly,” Hale said in the statement. “We know this is a teachable moment, and we will take action to coach and train the managers at the store to help prevent this from happening again. Diversity and inclusion are important to our culture at Lowe’s, and we remain committed to fostering an environment where all individuals are safe, treated fairly, valued and respected.”
Sales, an incoming freshman at Washington State University, told KIRO 7 the incident reminded him of high school experiences in which kids called him the N-word. "At my last job, my manager actually called me a colored boy,” he said. His mother, Kimberly Sales, called the recent incident involving her son "pure, unadulterated discrimination."
This is far from the first time a Black person was made to bend to the will of a racist. In fact, it happens so frequently that some people have actually relied on their white privilege to force the hands of other people. Amy Cooper, a white woman who used to lead insurance portfolio management, was shown on viral video trying to weaponize police against a Black birdwatcher who asked her to follow Central Park rules and put her dog on a leash.
The incident led to Cooper’s termination at the investment firm Franklin Templeton and a criminal charge of making a false police report. Luckily for her, her victim, Christian Cooper, seemed to take pity on her.
He wrote in The Washington Post Tuesday: “I’m ambivalent about the prosecution and have chosen not to aid the investigation. It’s important to remember that this case is for the DA to make, regardless of my involvement; it is not a situation where I have to press charges or else the case goes away.
I’ve said all along that I think it’s a mistake to focus on this one individual. The important thing the incident highlights is the long-standing, deep-seated racial bias against us black and brown folk that permeates the United States — bias that can bring horrific consequences, as with the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis later the same day I encountered Amy Cooper, or just small daily cuts.”
It’s unclear if the unidentified woman in the Lowe’s dispute will face any repercussions for her actions.