Earlier this year, a young man was apprehended by police in New York City after leaving Barney's department store. He had purchased a $350 belt from the upscale retailer, and moments later, after walking away from the store with no problems in the transaction, he was apprehended by New York Police. Trayon Christian, a 19 year old New Yorker, was brought into the precinct station and questioned about his purchase.
Christian showed the police everything they had asked to see (receipt, debit card, identification, etc.), and they still chose to hold him in a cell while they called his bank even, to verify his identity. Recently, Christian has chosen to take legal action against Barney's due to the offense, and feels that the store was profiling him, and sent the police to question him.
Did I mention that Trayon Christian is black? Trayon Christian is black. This fact is almost grotesquely prevalent in many cases of police harassment in New York City. This is the city that police officers are encouraged to "stop and Frisk" anyone who looks suspicious (Black/Hispanic) in a rough (Black/Hispanic) area of the city.
The incredibly prevalent culture of profiling is an overreach of police duty. This is a case of police harassment that steps into the bounds racist and preferential treatment to certain members of populations. The harassment that Christian endured is something that is not supposed to be a commonality in everyday life in the United States. His purchase of a belt was completely legitimate and there was nothing about it that should have warranted police action.
It seems as though the continual institutionalized racism of the police and safety sector continually rears its ugly head. Is this a result of the "Stop and Frisk" culture of legislation that New York City has been operating under for sometime now? Whatever the case may be, the use of police forces to intimidate, and harass civilians is an unacceptable mode of operation.
Black Teen Cuffed, Put in Cell After $350 Barneys Purchase
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