A white employee was fired from a Cincinnati-area Walmart after accusing a Black female customer of stealing.
The incident of profiling was caught on video. It prompted Cincinnati’s Anti-Police Brutality Coalition to protest the store in hopes of getting the company to address the racist treatment of Black customers.
Anternitia O’Neal went to the store to purchase groceries when a now-former Walmart employee accosted her after using the self-checkout lane to pay for her items. O’Neal explained to the worker she had paid for her items and was not stealing.
“I just feel that words can’t even explain how belittled they made me feel, less of a human, and that’s unfair,” she said.
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O’Neal was a frequent shopper of the Cincinnati Walmart and had stopped by to purchase a few items; juice, cereal, soap and lotion, so her small cart made the self-checkout lane ideal. The worker then came over and claimed O’Neal was not scanning all her items and placing unscanned items in bags. O’Neal knew she was being profiled because she was the only Black person in the area and directly targeted, and the employee at the time did not listen to any of O’Neal’s explanations.
O’Neal denied the accusation and suggested the worker check her receipt or look at the video cameras. The worker then left to bring the issue to management and escalate the accusation further. At this point, O’Neal was “struck with fear” because she didn’t know if the police had been called, which could easily lead to a deadly situation.
After looking at the security footage, O’Neal says management determined she did pay for all of her groceries. The employee was let go for not following proper protocols, according to the company. Walmart says the employee was not terminated for racial profiling since there was no way to determine if she was.
Cory Brown, a representative of Cincinnati’s Anti Police Brutality Coalition, told Fox 19 that when things like profiling or false accusations happen, “it’s not only a threat, it’s trauma.” Brown further explained that the former employee directly accusing O’Neal without evidence is just another way Black people are policed.
In the future, the humiliated woman hopes to receive an apology and wants to see Walmart implement more training around how to treat people of different backgrounds.
For O’Neal, the situation amplifies the maltreatment of Black folks at all levels. “To be treated like this is just inhumane, and it’s unfair.” said O’Neal in an interview with Fox 19, “It has to stop.”
