The election makes it unlikely this diary will be seen by many, but I still wish to relate this experience as I believe we all have a responsibility to stand up to racism when we see it. The best way to tell this tale is through the review I left on Google about this incident, so here it is:
I just witnessed shocking and bold racism being practiced at this Walmart. A young black woman was trying to purchase some PlayStation machines for gifts. Walmart supposedly only allows one per customer (which, if true, is a colossally stupid rule - you’re there to sell stuff, Walmart, so who cares if you sell it all to one person or to a hundred different people? You sold stuff, that’s your function. And don’t tell me how you’re trying to be “fair” with such a rule, either - Amazon truly leveled that playing field), so this young lady had brought some family members to make the purchases for her.
Well, that didn’t sit well with Ryan, the Sunday afternoon Walmart manager. He treated this poor woman as if she were STEALING these machines, rather than BUYING them. His staff lied to her about how many Playstations they had in the store (they told her they had none left), yet they magically managed to find one when I (a white guy) said I wanted to buy one.
So Ryan decided he was going to get control of this “upppity” woman, and told her to “not talk to my employees that way.” The thing is, I was standing right there, and this woman was, yes, upset - but was NOT being disrespectful, or unnecessarily loud, or arrogant, or unreasonable.
When I told Ryan to take it easy, and not to talk to the young woman like she was doing something wrong, he immediately turned on me, and started to tell me it was none of my business but stopped short of that, choosing open confrontation with me, rather than de-escalation, basically daring me to continue taking this woman’s side. When I told Ryan I intended to report his behavior, he laughed, asking me, “who are you going to report to?” and then telling me to go ahead, and recited Walmart’s 800 number to me. Side note - I will be calling them to report this, but I am also reporting it here, and to many more places, including the local media. Oh yeah, at one point Ryan mumbled under his breath that he “makes more than $100,000 a year” and thus is, what? entitled to practice racism? He certainly seems to believe he is entitled to behavior this young woman is not equally entitled to.
I sure hope his employer is as appalled at his behavior as I am, because I’m pretty sure they pay him all that money to de-escalate, not make things worse for no good reason whatsoever, and to NOT PRACTICE RACISM, rather than practice it openly, arrogantly, and with a big smile on his face.
In the end, Ryan settled for REFUSING TO SELL THIS YOUNG LADY ANOTHER PLAYSTATION - not because he did not have them to sell (which again, is your ENTIRE FUNCTION AS MANAGER, Ryan, to SELL STUFF), but BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO SELL HER ANOTHER ONE.
And when I told the young woman to go to another Walmart, because I had seen white privilege exercised like this before, and we ALL MUST STAND UP TO IT, Ryan replied, “oh, you’re going to play the race card, are you?”
Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. Racism IS NOT A CARD BEING PLAYED. It is a FACT, and it is practiced by people like YOU - some without even realizing they’re doing it. I stepped into this situation, Ryan, because YOU WERE OUT OF CONTROL. There was no reason to mistreat this young lady, nor was there reason to mistreat me for standing up for her because YOU WERE OUT OF CONTROL, RYAN. You need some sensitivity training, dude, seriously.
So BEWARE OF THIS WALMART, fellow travelers, you are quite likely to experience RACISM while shopping there. And if you wish to avoid the possibility altogether, there is another Walmart just a couple exists up the road who have some nicer, less RACIST people working there.
And there you have it. It is not difficult to stand up to racism, truly it’s not. The hard part (at least for me) is recognizing racism when you see it, for it is everywhere, and it can be right in front of your face, and you can still miss it. I nearly did NOTHING; but I find, as I get older, that I cannot abide to do nothing in such circumstances, so I did, well, something.
And for the record, I didn’t write this to get praise of any kind. While walking with her out of the store (I didn’t trust Ryan to leave her alone), the young lady tried to thank me. I told her thanks isn’t necessary, that we are all in this life together, and we must all take responsibility for the greater good, every. chance. we. get.