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Black Florida family sues Walmart after being falsely accused of shoplifting because security guards refused to check receipts for product purchases

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Black Family Sues Walmart After Security Guards Detain Them for “Shopping While Black”

The Brewster family had just left church after they entered a Walmart in Florida to replace clothes they’d purchased for their daughter the day prior to this that were too small for her.

The Black family of five were falsely accused of trying to steal items they wanted to exchange and were directed to a security room with television monitors, where they were confronted by security guards and sheriff’s deputies.

Fortunately, Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies determined that the family had been falsely accused and eventually released them.

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Black family sues Walmart after security guards detained them for 'shopping while black'
Raymond and Nekeeya Brewster and their daughters were detained by security guards and sheriff’s deputies after they were falsely accused of shoplifting in October. They have since filed a lawsuit. (Photo: Facebook)

But it wasn’t until husband and wife Raymond and Nekeeya Brewster, together with their three daughters, ages 12, 7 and 1, were forced to sit on a bench while security guards reviewed surveillance footage to show cops alleged evidence that the family was trying to steal merchandise. .

But there was no evidence.

“You can go. If you would like to meet me in the parking lot, I will write you a report on the entire incident,” the deputy told the family when he realized they’d been falsely accused. lawsuit filed last month that cites several past incidents during which Walmart employees racially profiled Black customers.

“The Brewster family does not stand alone,” states the lawsuit filed Nov. 26 by Jacksonville attorney Rory Diamond.

“Walmart repeatedly, systemically and disproportionately discriminates against Black customers. Specifically, Walmart security and related staff profile black customers who’ve done nothing flawed, based on little or no evidence apart from their race.

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Other incidents mentioned within the lawsuit include a 2020 incident during which a Black man from Oregon named Michael Mangum received greater than $4 million following a jury trial in 2022; and a 2020 incident during which two Black men stopped at a Texas Walmart attempted to return a television that had been resolved last yr for an undisclosed amount.

Another incident not mentioned within the lawsuit occurred at an Arkansas Walmart in 2021, where a Black man named Roderick Johnson sued the Walmart, claiming he was detained under the “false pretense of shoplifting,” and the case stays pending. Johnson is demanding $100 million or unlimited shopping at Walmart for the remaining of his life.

“The Brewsters are focused on changing Walmart’s practice of safety profiling Black customers and will fairly and appropriately protect the interests of members of the Proposed Class,” the recent lawsuit states.

Stopping

On Saturday, October 13, the Brewster family walked into the Walmart on City Square Drive in Jacksonville and purchased clothes for one of their daughters.

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However, after they returned home, they realized that the garments were too small for their teenage daughter, in order that they planned to replace the items the subsequent day. On Sunday, the family went to church after which drove to Walmart to make an exchange.

Hoping to avoid security issues, Nekeeya put her clothes and receipt in a Walmart bag and zipped it up.

The family then entered the shop, and Nekeeya put her bag within the cart and went to the kids’s section, where she selected the identical clothes in a bigger size. Her husband went to one other part of the shop.

Nekeeya then went to the shopper service counter to make an exchange, which included five items of clothing and one other five items in a bigger size. That’s when she untied her bag and took out the garments she wanted to exchange together with the receipt for those items.

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During this process, the shopper service representative apparently received a call from security guards, prompting him to put the exchange on hold. Raymond joined his wife on the shopper service line, which had grown longer with customers due to delays.

About 10 minutes later, a plainclothes security guard named Stephen George Mullen approached the family and accused them of stealing.

“Ma’am, we saw you putting something in your bag,” he announced loudly, drawing stares from other customers before repeating the identical accusation.

“No, you didn’t see anything in my bag. What are you talking about?” Nekeeya replied.

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“Ma’am, please put these pants in your bag,” Mullen continued.

“Sir, I have a receipt that shows we bought these clothes on Saturday,” Nekeeya replied, trying to hand Mullen the receipt from the day prior to this. “You can match the UPC to the barcode on your pants, right?”

However, according to the lawsuit, Mullen had no real interest in checking the receipt.

“No, we can’t do that,” Mullen informed her, then called one other security guard on a walkie-talkie.

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“They’re telling us they don’t have us on camera,” Mullen told the second security guard, identified as Willie Frank McFayden Jr.

“Yes, I saw you,” McFayden said.

“No, no,” Nekeeya replied, however the guards still refused to check the bill.

Instead, the 2 left and ordered the family to stay on the counter, asking them to step aside so other customers could talk to employees. Twenty minutes later, Mullen returned and told the family to “come with me.”

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The family gathered their belongings and followed Mullen into the center of the shop, where they were greeted by two Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies. They then ordered the family to follow them to a security room near the front of the shop.

The family was ordered to sit on a bench and one of the deputies told them they were there to “keep the peace.”

“We didn’t steal anything,” Nekeeya told the deputy. “I’m not sure why they think we did that. We have a receipt for everything we buy.”

And that is when deputies realized the security guards had lied to them.

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“Do they have a receipt?” – one of the deputies asked the guards. “That’s not the information you gave us, that’s not what you see on the body camera.”

“We believe we saw her putting items into the bag,” Mullens explained.

“That’s not the information you gave us,” the second deputy said. “That’s not what you see on the body camera.”

Security guards began looking through video footage to show deputies the portion of Nekeeya putting items right into a bag, but they found nothing.

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“You can’t show us anything that even looks like she was putting something in a bag,” the primary deputy told security guards. – You didn’t see them put anything within the bag.

After a moment, McFayden admitted “no.” They have not seen anything like this. Deputies then told the family they were good to go.

“The Brewster family has been subjected to preventive safety measures, falsely imprisoned, unlawfully detained, defamed, discriminated against in violation of their civil rights and humiliated,” reads the lawsuit, which accuses Walmart of civil rights violations, false imprisonment, libel and slander, and willful misconduct. emotional.

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Politics and Current

Trump’s staff are trying to stop the “abuse” of Elon Musk’s relationship with the president, who cannot demand him because “there is no leverage over him, and Elon gives Zero FS”

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He is a spoiled brat of the inner circle of the magician, opening the thumb with Donald Trump’s “Tatus”, seemingly remaining a privileged son.

A jealous older brother Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump, who once enjoyed the same close president, declared war with the younger, richer Nemesis a couple of months ago, swearing that he banished him on January 20.

But this date has passed, and Elon is still standing, often alongside the president.

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The president of American Elekt Donald Trump and Elon Musk observe the launch of the sixth Starship Spacex rocket test on November 19, 2024 at Brownsville, Texas. The owner of the billionaire SpaceX, Elon Musk, Trump’s trustee, was used to manage the latest performance of the government department together with the former presidential candidate Vivka Ramaswamy. (Photo Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

However, this week, the General Director of Tesla could go too far. Musk undermined Trump’s announcement on Tuesday about an investment price $ 500 billion in the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, claiming that supporters of the “Stargate project” only a fraction of the proposed investments price $ 500 billion.

He even published a joke This suggested that the directors were burning Crack “to come up with the number of $ 500 billion for Stargate.”

Bannon saw, telling Musk journalists, “he should not reverse what the president was already talking about. This is unacceptable and unsatisfactory. You see how he is out of control.”

Trump, when asked about the number of Musk’s failures at a press conference on Friday, seemed to move his arms.

“I mean that Elon does not like one of these people,” Trump replied, referring to musk contempt for the general director of OPENAI Altman itself, one of the primary investors of the Stargate project.

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That’s all? No pink slip? Even insult? What does the President’s Musk have?

“It is obvious that he abused the proximity of the president,” Trump’s ally he said Politico. “The problem is that the president has no levers over him, and Elon gives zero f – s.”

As Politico noted: “It is very unusual for the senior adviser-Muska-in public to criticize the president’s initiatives, and his broadly favorable speculation in GOP circles about whether he and Trump will finally seem.”

But there are no signs of the upcoming breakup. Trump is unable to hide his feelings and although there have been reports that he has enough musk, the general director of Starlink retains almost unusual access to the president.

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Musk even has an office in West Wing, during which he pilots the “Department of Government”, an advisory commission created by Trump to eliminate waste in the federal government.

“We are now working with him to understand his ideas – the ideas are innovative. Make done not so much,” said a political official of the White House.

Bannon called on the chief of staff of Susie Wiles to “sit (musk) down” and “immediate sorting”.

He should already know: no person puts Elon in the corner.

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Black historians and leaders condemn the executive order of Trump addressed to the Smithsonian African American Museum: “Literal attack on Black America” ​​- essence

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Black historians and leaders condemn the executive order of Trump addressed to the Smithsonian African American Museum:

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, near the Washington monument. (Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group by Getty Images)

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One of the latest executive orders of President Trump is to arouse serious slack and for a reason. New order entitled “Restoring truth and mental health to the history of America” He follows the Smithsonian institution particularly the National Museum of History and Culture of African American-conquering it consisting in pushing “a divisible, focused ideology on the race.”

But about this: the executive order ignores key facts about the history of America, akin to the founders’ fathers wrote slavery in the structure and announced enslaved people as three fifth people.

As Essence informed earlier, the order is about by JD Vance Vice President liable for reviewing the museum content and gives the internal secretary Doug Burgum the right to examine whether any monuments have been removed or modified “to consolidate a false reconstruction of America’s history.” In other words, direct effort is to rewrite history to match the president’s narrative – one which removes the influence of racism and black contribution to the nation.

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In 2017, at the starting of his first term, Trump actually praised the African American Museum and culture, saying that “he was deeply proud, that there is now a museum that honors millions of African Americans and women who built our national heritage.” Now he conducts the effort to undermine the institution itself, which he once called the treasure. But historians and black leaders don’t withdraw. As Clarke put it: “Let’s be a bright, black story is America’s story. Every rhetoric that opposes this concept is not only incorrect, but grossly racist.”

Historians, supporters of civil rights and black political leaders shouldn’t have this. Here’s what that they had to say about the latest attempt to whiten history.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Politics and Current

HHS Secretary HHS RFK JR. Fluoring in water can worsen health differences for black Americans

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The United States of the Secretary for Health and Social Welfare, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reversed the tenth anniversary CDC guidelines to recommend water fluoridation. The position applies to public health experts who claim that practice has reduced the occurrence of oral disease.

Kennedy, who has long been a skeptic of fluoride safety in the water, announced on Monday that he would order CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) to stop the advisory advice for countries about water fluoridation, fulfilling the promise he made after the election of President Donald Trump in November last yr. On the identical day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will start reviewing “new scientific information” on the potential health threats of fluoride in drinking water, in keeping with the Associated Press. The Federal Agency is responsible for determining the utmost allowed fluoride level in public water systems.

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As the perfect health secretary in the country, Kennedy doesn’t have the best to force states to stop the fluorisation of drinking water, but taking a step to order CDC reversal in this matter could have a major impact. . CDC Earlier he said that fluorine in drinking water strengthens tooth health and reduces the niches, replacing minerals lost over time for normal consumption.

The federal government has supported Water fluorization from 1950 and started to find out the rules on how much fluoride needs to be added to drinking water in 1962.

Public health experts questioned that there’s a threat to the health of fluoride in drinking water, especially considering the fluoride level allowed for 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water. Revelation of recommendations and potentially reduction or elimination of water fluoridation concerns a very negative impact on health supporters who’re afraid of black and brown communities.

The Jamiya Williams and Terrance Carter sink is slowly crammed with water when washing dishes in its apartment on September 1, 2022 in Jackson, Mississippi. Water pressure increased in their apartment on Wednesday; However, the water remains to be dangerous to drink. (Photo Brad Vest/Getty Images)

King said that eliminating the usage of fluoride in drinking water, combined with a disproportionate lack of access to healthcare, may prove harmful to black and brown American children and adults.

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“These populations are particularly threatened due to the limitation of dental insurance, and the lack of available dental suppliers. The increased incidence of the dental recess and the occurrence of expensive conditions that can be prevented can be the result,” he explained.

Scientific data show that the differences in the health of the oral cavity amongst black children have existed for years, despite the intervention of public fluoridation of drinking water in their communities. According to Study from the National Institutes of Health“Although the availability of insurance has increased, research indicates that it remains unused by the African American community.”

The claim of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

There are also other aspects that could be available apart from access to insurance and care. “Socio-cultural factors also affect the way African Americans experience oral health, from the patient’s relationship with the value determined on the health of the oral cavity,” notes the NIH study. “African Americans have a fragile history with the medical community, and sometimes they show evidence of distrust for doctors. This distrust can lead to the avoidance of African Americans.”

Without the intervention of fluoridation, public health experts are afraid that the health of the Black Americans may worsen.

Administrator EPA Lee Zeldin praised Kennedy’s move about water fluoridation and said that the brand new review of the agency would inform her “future steps”.

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“Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this problem. His spokeswoman played a key role in our decision to review the threats associated with exposure to fluorine, and we are involved in cooperation with him, using solid sciences when we develop our mission of human health and the environment,” he said.

Watch: why the US made little progress in improving the health of Black Americans

(Tagstranslate) Robert F. Kennedy JR (T) Trump administration

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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