A black Michigan woman is claiming she was racially profiled when she was forced to undress in front of staff at a Target after she was falsely accused of stealing a bikini.
Ashanae Davis, 20, was walking out of a Target in Southfield, Michigan, on May 22 when she was stopped by a black male security officer who grabbed her on the arm.
She was then approached by a second officer – who was white – who handcuffed her and ‘dragged’ her through the store yelling that Davis was wearing ‘stolen bikini panties… underneath her clothing.’
‘He said that over and over. Loud enough for other customers to hear and loud enough to publicly humiliate our client,’ attorney Jasmine Rand said in a press conference, according to the Huffington Post.
Ashanae Davis, 20, (pictured) was walking out of a Target in Southfield, Michigan, on May 22 when she was stopped by a black male security officer
‘To obtain her freedom she then has to pull up her shirt with two male employees at target to prove she hasn’t stolen a bikini top and then she has to pull down her pants to prove she hasn’t stolen a bikini bottom. And only then would they let her leave target,’ she added.
It was confirmed by a company representative that a Target team member walked Davis into the security office.
‘At first I was in shock, of course, and it was just very humiliating,’ Davis said to WXYZ. ‘I felt degraded. It was sad. I was very upset.’
The woman plans to file a race and gender discrimination lawsuit against Target Corporation.
At the store (pictured), a second white officer handcuffed her and ‘dragged’ her through the store yelling that Davis was wearing ‘stolen bikini panties… underneath her clothing’
‘Someone needs to be held accountable and it shouldn’t happen to anyone else,’ Davis said.
Target released a statement on Tuesday and stated that it had fired one of the employees.
They said: ‘We want everyone who shops at Target to feel welcomed and respected and take any allegations of mistreatment seriously.
‘We’re sorry for the actions of our former team member, who created an experience we don’t want any guest to have at Target. Upon reviewing our team’s actions, we terminated the team member who was directly involved and are addressing the situation with the security team at the store.’
Target claimed that there were new bikini tags sticking out from the woman’s bag. The swimsuit had been purchased elsewhere.
The woman plans to file a race and gender discrimination lawsuit against Target Corporation
‘If only one employee was held accountable for the incident, and that employee was fired on the day we held the press conference, I find Target’s efforts disingenuous. If Target fired only the African American male employee, I find the effort a compounding act of racial discrimination. Hate can’t drive out hate from corporate culture,’ Rand said to the Huffington Post.
Target claimed that the employee was fired on May 23, a day after the incident occurred.
‘[Target’s] corporate officers need to take a page out of Starbucks’ book and close their stores to do racial and gender sensitivity trainings,’ Rand added.
The store responded to those remarks as well.
They said: ‘We introduced the first of our unconscious bias trainings in 2017, which are rolling out now to all our teams across our company. Additionally, we’re continuing to make it a part of all of our company’s learning and development plans, including the ones we use whenever new team members come onboard.’
Rand is a prominent civil rights attorney and has represented the familes of Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin.