An Oregon woman has been awarded $1 million in damages after being subjected to racist behavior at the hands of a gas station employee who refused to serve her because she was Black.
The incident occurred on March 12, 2020, at Jackson’s Food Store & Gas, but Rose Wakefield finally received compensation this week.
Gregory Kafoury, Wakefield’s lawyer, explained that she stopped at the store for gas. The station is not self-serve, and attendants have to come out and pump gas for the customers. However, when Wakefield arrived, the attendant Nigel Powers ignored her and served other customers first. After Wakefield finally asked for help, Powers told her, “I’ll get to you when I feel like it.”
Wakefield was forced to go into the station and ask someone else to assist her. On her way out, she questioned Powers on why he wouldn’t assist her, and he replied, “I don’t serve Black people.”
She was so shocked by the experience that she considered not pursuing it further.
“Ms. Wakefield originally was just going to let this go,” Kafoury explained. “She told her friends that it was too disturbing, and she didn’t want to deal with it. And then she thought about it and said, ‘It’s too wrong. I have to do something about it.’”
Surveillance video was later pulled to show the interaction and support Wakefield’s version of events. And despite the Multnomah County jury’s verdict of awarding the plaintiff $1 million to support her, Jackson Food Stores released in a statement on Thursday that they disagreed with the jury’s decision. They said they had a ‘zero tolerance” policy for discrimination, but “our knowledge does not align with the verdict.”
“After carefully reviewing all facts and evidence, including video surveillance, we chose to take this matter to trial because we were comfortable based on our knowledge that the service-related concern actually reported by the customer was investigated and promptly addressed.”
