A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Macy's is under fire for profiling black customers who buy high-end items. One of the victims was actor Robert Brown, who was handcuffed for half an hour back in June before police let him go. Now Brown wants to file a class-action lawsuit against Macy's for this behavior.
Brown withdrew the lawsuit he filed last month in New York State Supreme Court against the department store and the New York City Police Department and, instead, filed it with the U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan seeking class-action status.
A federal judge must decide whether to grant the lawsuit class-action status.
Brown said undercover police handcuffed him and put him in a cell at Macy's Manhattan flagship store in June after an employee there accused him of credit card fraud.
The employee and the police, he said, could not believe that Brown, as a young, black man, could afford to buy a $1,300 watch and some sunglasses without stealing someone else's card.
The lawsuit says that after realizing their mistake, the police officers apologetically offered to escort him to his next destination in a police car with flashing lights.
"If he wasn't Rob Brown, the actor, and he was just some person of color off the street, he would have been kept there, handed over to the police and charged with a crime he didn't commit and put into the criminal justice system," said Brown's lawyer, Douglas Wigdor.
"So, he feels strongly now that he has the ability to create substantial change and help other people," Wigdor said.
If I were Brown, I'd feel insulted too. And apparently his suit, plus the investigation, must have gotten Macy's to change its tune--or at least start to do so. After initially claiming the NYPD--which is also a defendant in Brown's suit--was solely responsible, Macy's is meeting with civil rights leaders to discuss the issue.
Brown is seeking class-action status for "innocent Black, Hispanic, Asian and other non-White shoppers" targeted for profiling by Macy's. Hard to tell if he'll be successful, but we can hope at the very least that he can get some people high up on the food chain to testify under oath about what's happening here.