Black person arrested for making an expensive purchase.

Two African-American customers have accused the high-end New York department store Barneys of racial profiling after they were detained for making expensive purchases. Trayon Christian, 19, was arrested moments after buying a $350 belt. Despite showing his ID and debit card to undercover officers, Christian was told the purchase was suspicious because he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase. Christian has filed a lawsuit against Barneys. Another African-American shopper has since come forward to say she endured a similar experience earlier this year.

Ahh...good ol' NYPD. Really, what would the city be without them? Anyway, I hope the victims get as much as they can from the lawsuit..

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/26/barneys-racial-profiling-al-sharpton

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/10/23/attorney-student-racially-profiled-by-barneys-nypd-after-buying-300-belt/

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/23/justice/new-york-profiling-lawsuit/

Sad yet funny at the same time.

And yet some people still live under the delusion that racism is dead.

wow...

I find it suspicious that anyone would spend $350 on a belt.

I thought you left

Will have to do some independent research before I reach my conclusion on this matter

Anyone who spends $350 on a belt should be arrested.

Wtf Barney's? you would think that as long as the card works (especially debit) that we would be delighted to ring it up.

Dumb move and now its gunna cost em~

@dave123321: I did...for a moment. Then a mod responded to the thread and said that it was probably a glitch that occurred after the makeover so I apologized to him and the rest of the mods.

I'm a Black male who resides in NYC. I can tell you from daily experience that a lot of young males (Black, Latino, Indian, etc) wear these multi-hundred dollar name-brand belts. My supervisor, who's Black, has a $500 Gucci belt. I guess it does seem ridiculous to those who aren't into that sort of stuff, but you have to try to understand why someone would spend that much money on something like that by comparing it to what you're interested in; people think us gamers are ridiculous for spending hundreds of dollars on consoles or thousands on gaming PCs.

Looks like Jay-Z is feeling the pressure to break off promotional ties with Barney's.

Well as long as the name and signature match the ID, there shouldn't have been any issue.

I clicked expecting a felon buying a gun.

Profiling isn't against the law - don't see why he's suing. Besides, it's NY they don't care about your rights - same goes for Chicago.

Willing to have 'open dialog' while maintaining the deal anyway. He should run for president.

What dumb ass would spend that much on a belt?

I'm glad they were arrested.

I know one business I will not be shopping at.

Fuckin wit me cuz I'ma teenager, with a little bit o gold and a pager!

A computer costs money to make the parts and ship them and pay RnD scientists and engineers to develop software and hardware.

A belt is a piece of plastic, metal and leather. It probably costs 10 dollars to produce in a sweat shop.

Anybody who is willing to pay such a wildly stupid mark up has no understanding of the value of money and deserves any karma they get.

Pretty much this right here. Though the question remains on why they were even approached in the first place.

Glad the TC is so stupid that he doesn't even realize that the NYPD didn't make any arrests. Which is the reason why the lawsuits are against Barney's, not the NYPD.

The security guards at Barney's detained the individuals. The NYPD simply took them into custody pending charges being filed.

I understand your point and even considered arguing it, but it fails to convey the point I really wanted to make, which is that the non-monetary value that people place on certain types of items is what drives them to purchase them (i.e. whether they really like it or not, regardless of the price). Furthermore, even though a belt is nothing more than a composition of plastic, metal and leather, it can be - depending on its price - a status symbol and a means of social advancement. For example, women tend to prefer men with money, so if they see a guy with a really expensive belt, they may be drawn to him because it's a sign that he has money. This can be a motivating factor as to why someone would spend such a ridiculous amount of money on a belt.

I think its fucking stupid, but that's just me....

At least my gaming PC serves multiple purposes. What a belt does is pretty limited. Thus, spending $350 on a belt is pretty much throwing money away....

I hope they get a phat payout so the store learns their lesson.

Still, why would the NYPD take them in, can't they simply look that the debit card and any drivers license or photo ID matches, say the store had no reason to detain them and let them go? If the NYPD took them in then I think the people should also sue the NYPD while they're at it.

There's a huge difference between Gucci, True Religion, and your basic Chinese made clothing.

The belt isn't the issue. People waste their money on over priced things everyday (see just about every fucking rich person).

The issue is the racism at play.

Except that they aren't buying a belt, they're buying the prestige of being able to afford something with a certain name attached. You and I go out and look for a belt, other people go out and look for a STATUS SYMBOL. And yes, buying a status symbol is almost always gonna be expensive, because if it wasn't expensive then it wouldn't be a status symbol.

Now, you can of course say, "but it's stupid to buy status symbols." But wouldn't that be sort of contingent on you not having any use for them? At that point, it's sort of EXACTLY like someone who has no need for a computer saying that it's stupid to spend a lot of money on a computer.

But whether or not it's stupid to spend $350 on a belt is entirely beside the point. Maybe it was a stupid purchase and maybe it wasn't, but even if it was a stupid purchase then I'm sure all of us have been guilty of that at some point. Think back to the last stupid purchase you made and ask yourself this: did you get arrested? A company puts a product for sale, you have the money to buy it, you then buy it, and then you get arrested because your skin color makes it seem "suspicious" (despite your ID checking out). Has that ever happened to you? Because that's sort of the issue here.

100% true. But the point is that nobody should give half a shit about what anyone else spends their own money on, or why. Especially not enough to freak out and call the fucking police.

Especially when the thing they're buying is the thing that YOU'RE SELLING. That's like, punishing your customers. Wait, no, that's not "like" punishing your customers, it totally f***ing IS punishing your customers for buying what you're trying to sell. What gets me isn't the racism, because a LOT of people are kind of racist. But at least most of them have the good sense to shut the f*** up when customers are trying to hand them money.

@Shottayouth13-: I don't think anybody believes its completely gone just that almost all normal people don't give two shits about people's race anymore and for the most part it isn't an issue.

Just seems like these particular cop/s where being arseholes.

Uh...maybe that's correct, but that's not what the provided links say. The sources he provided say that it was the NYPD, NOT Barney's security, who detained him.

"The two officers handcuffed Christian on the sidewalk and placed him into a police vehicle, according to the court documents filed Monday. Christian was detained in a holding cell for two hours and interrogated, as police contacted Chase Bank to check his card, Palillo said."

Now, maybe that's incorrect information. If so, I invite you to provide a source to the contrary. But if this is correct, then at no point does it look like he was detained by Barney's security. Barney's security wasn't anywhere nearby. He was out of the store and a block away, after making his totally legit purchase. He was then stopped by NYPD officers, handcuffed, taken into custody, and detained for two hours. That isn't an arrest by the NYPD? And even if it isn't considered an "arrest", then at what point did Barney's security detain the guy? Barney's security (allegedly) wasn't anywhere nearby when the dude was stopped, placed in handcuffs, and placed in police custody. I admit to not knowing the technical and legal definition of an "arrest", so MAYBE you're correct that the NYPD didn't arrest him. But even if that's true, at what point did Barney's security ever detain the guy?

This.

Man, they must cuff people all the time when Black Friday rolls around!

I'll be here all week.

What the hell are they basing that on?

@BluRayHiDef: Yeah, but all a belt does is keep your pants up.

Games keep my pants tight and more!

@MakeMeaSammitch: Thing is what you are really paying for is the name people see gucci and they know how much you paid for it if its real that's where the real value lies not in the materials or construction. Its the prestige and attention you get for having such a belt. You want people to know youre a baller just from looking at you. Think of all the action youll get forom the opposite sex ect. That may sound silly but its real and some people are willing to pay to obtain it. Nothing wrong with that imo.

There is definite race discrimination for any store to think that someone is making a purchase they appear they cant afford. The man was using a credit card, not cash, buy his belt, he would either have to pay the money back at the end of the statement or make payments, either way the store gets a purchase out of it. The idea of a person walking into a store with the appearance they cant afford something is ridiculous.

Im also seeing segregation to all this, which is unlawful according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Barney, Macy's, and the NYPD are saying that black people should not make purchases at a high end store, but instead shop at a place meant for people of their race.

By the way, if someone wants to spend $350 on a belt that is their own business. The belt is being priced at $350 for its name brand, not for the actual product.

This happens to white people all the time.

The difference?

It doesn't get reported on national news.

I hope the store suffers and goes close to bankruptcy. Racism should not be tolerated whatsoever in any way shape or form. My best friends are White,Asian, Black and going through 3 religions. Racists should go burn.

Then why is the lawsuit against Barneys and not the NYPD? What you fail to understand is that the police routinely act on complaints given by the employees of a business.

So the fact remains, and that you glossed over in an attempt to nitpick technicalities with me, is that Barney's is to blame. Not the NYPD.

Of course they know that. These hypocrites are positioning themselves as minimalists and yet, they don't believe in minimalism; except of course in cases such as this one, where the concept can be used in an attempt to validate the detention of a Black guy buying an extravagant accessory.

Racism still exists, but can we stop pretending this is the norm because a story pops up once in awhile? And the kid was not arrested from what I read, he was stopped and questioned. Once it was found he purchased legit he was released. Yes it was wrong but no need to inflate it.

How do we absolutely know that it was racially motivated? It could very much be so, but we can't really be sure, we don't have much to assert such premise.

I mean this happens all the time, when some customer that does not frequent or doesn't fit the "profile" of a luxury or high-end store or service provider enters such a business and is subsequently looked at with suspicion. I know it happened to me before here in Gaza.

Its not exclusively motivated by race that's what I'm getting at. It could be motivated by class profiling/discrimination, or it could be the case that the business has a niche customer base.

The title of this topic is completely misleading and incorrect. Being arrested and detained are two different things.

Oprah, a fucking billionaire was racially profiled by some store clerk who thought that she couldn't afford a handbag.

Believe me, it was racially motivated.