SHOPPING WHILE BLACK? H&M STORE BOOTS GIRLS

Another case of shopping while Black?

Swedish fashion retailer H&M reportedly announced recently that it apologised for a store employee kicking two young Black women out of a store in Coronado Center, a shopping mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The incident, captured on video and widely reposted online, is the latest in a long pattern of what activists have long described as surveillance capitalism.

One of the women, Noela (@yoitsnoela on TikTok and @noelamamuya on IG), stated on her TikTok profile that her attorney advised her not to comment publicly.

While we can no longer see the original February 2024 video on Noela’s profile, online users had re-posted it, eventually coming to the company's attention. News outlet The Root (@the.root on IG) said H&M had posted a comment on its Instagram page (@hm on IG), which appears to be deleted: ‘We take the incident from February of last year at our Albuquerque store very seriously. Following the incident, we immediately acted according to our strict guidelines. The employee in question is no longer employed by H&M. We extend a sincere apology to the affected customers.’

This isn’t H&M’s first brush with anti-Blackness. In 2018, the company sparked global outrage for using an image on its online store of a Black boy in a hoodie labelled, 'Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.' Apologies followed. Again.

Video credit: @yoitsnoela (TikTok)

Sources

https://www.tiktok.com/@yoitsnoela/video/7490095369389395243

https://www.theroot.com/h-m-under-fire-for-viral-video-of-manager-karen-kicking-1851775594

https://balleralert.com/profiles/blogs/hm-faces-racial-profiling-accusations

https://www.tiktok.com/@yoitsnoela