Barneys New York Pays $525,000 in an Attempt To Be Less Racist

Barneys New York has been fined $525,000 by New York State Attorney General’s office as a settlement in its racial profiling lawsuit. The suit was in response to several incidences in which brown and black customers of Barneys were pursued, cuffed and detained under grounds of suspicion of credit card fraud and/or shoplifting.

After a nine month investigation, the retailer was found guilty of profiling non-white groups of customers. New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman stated that a “disproportionate number of African-American and Latino customers [are] being detained for alleged shoplifting or credit card fraud.”

The investigation was instigated by complaints from two black Barneys customers.

Kayla Phillips, 21, purchased a handbag valued at more than $2,000. She was then “stopped, frisked, searched and detained” by the police in Barneys.

Trayon Christian, a black teen, was wrongfully arrested after he used his debit card to buy a $350 belt. Trayon was stopped several blocks from the store, and questioned by plainclothes officers about the legitimacy of his ability to buy the belt. Innocent of any wrongdoing, Christian was forcibly detained, handcuffed and held in the 19th Precinct station house for approximately 2 hours, before being released.

New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement, “Profiling and racial discrimination remain a problem in our state, but not one we are willing to accept.”

“This agreement will correct a number of wrongs, both by fixing past policies and by monitoring the actions of Barneys and its employees to make sure that past mistakes are not repeated,” he said.

So how will Barneys be “fixing past policies”? In addition to paying its fine, the privately owned luxury retailer has pledged to improve its record keeping, and reform how it detains suspected shoplifters. They will also hire “independent anti-profiling consultant with expertise in the prevention of racial profiling in loss prevention and asset protection.”

Of course, it sounds like Barneys plans to progress into an operation which treats all customers (yes, even the black and brown ones) with respect. As we all know, paying $525,000 when you are a multimillion dollar company definitely makes you less racist.

“We are a truly progressive company that has absolutely no tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” said Mark Lee, the chief executive officer of Barneys, in a statement on behalf of the company. The whole ordeal does seem like another case of eloquent and expensive lip service, punctuated with a financial slap on the wrist. Time will reveal whether those “reforms” really invoke change at Barneys and other high end retailers of the same ilk.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Lydia O

Lydia Okello is a feminist, body positive, queer personal style blogger. On her website Style is Style, she showcases her panache for bright colors and power clashing. When she isn't pawing over Samantha Pleet collections on Tumblr, she's dreaming about havin' a kitten of her own one day. You can find her on Twitter, Tumblr and on her personal blog.

Lydia has written 64 articles for us.

5 Comments

  1. This quote:

    “New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement, “Profiling and racial discrimination remain a problem in our state, but not one we are willing to accept.””

    Yes! Just because it’s (more or less) a fact of life right now doesn’t mean we have to accept it. Too many times people justify a cop’s racist actions because they think that police have been conditioned over time to suspect people of color (just like in Crash). That doesn’t make it an acceptable response.

  2. “We are a truly progressive company that has absolutely no tolerance for discrimination of any kind,”

    HA HA HA… that made me LOL

    • Seriously. I think a statement like that (in my mind) is more damaging. What he *should* have done was admitted and apologized. That would have commanded more respect than that idiotic statement. Oh wait, can’t admit it because lawsuits?? oh, what ball sacks the corporate types are.

  3. The justice system was complicit in literally every one of these cases but suuuure, it totally won’t accept racial profiling…

Comments are closed.