Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Washington
Racial Discrimination
I was shopping for items at a huge home improvement warehouse. I went to purchase these items with my Visa Card. The cashier looked at me and told me he needed to see my identification. I told him ID was not required when you use credit cards, unless the back of the card said check ID or the card was not signed. The cashier told me he wanted to make sure the card belonged to me. The cashier said he asked all customers for ID, that was the store's policy. I found out this was not the store's policy and this cashier did not ask other customers for ID. The other customers were white and I am black.
The store manager told me they do not ask customers for ID and he hope the cashier was not racial profiling. The manager went on to say they have been experiencing a high number of thefts and he teaches his cashiers to look at everything not just the person.
Me being a law enforcement officer I thought this was insane. There is a lot more to this story. Do I have a case?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Racial Discrimination
There are anticipated to be in the neighborhood of 1.5 million cases of identity theft this year. The credit card industry estimates credit card theft will amount to something like $180 million this year. ID and credit card theft are enormous problems.
While not unsympathetic to racial profiling, we suggest you may have been done a valuable service by an alert cashier who wishes to make sure no unauthorized person is using your card. One would suppose that this cashier checks each such transaction, black or white, whether or not it is official store policy, and, if so, that cashier should be commended. We hope this is the case.
Not every check of a person of color is racial profiling. We hope such was not the case with you in this situation, and suggest you look at the positive side - if your card had been stolen arguably the thief would not have been able to misuse your card with this cashier, at least.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
