Jordan McDowell (right) and the cashier who racially profiled him in a grocery store
Santa Fe, NM — Jordan McDowell, a 22-year old pre-med college student who was vacationing from out of state, became a victim of racial profiling when a store cashier called the police on him after he bought candy. The store cashier apparently told the 911 dispatcher that McDowell was being arrogant because he is Black.Last Friday, McDowell went inside an Allsup grocery store in Santa Fe and purchased a bag of Sour Patch Kids. After paying for it, he said he walked around the store to find something else to buy. He then noticed that a store employee was watching his every move.
“They said I was sketchy because I picked stuff up, put stuff back,” McDowell said towards the end of a video he recorded as he saw the clerk called someone on the phone.
In the video, some parts of the exchange was recorded. “And I want him out of the store right now,” the clerk could be heard saying as she is possibly talking to a 911 dispatcher. After a short pause, she said, “because he’s being arrogant, because he’s black.”
“In that moment, the only thing I felt at that small moment was rage,” McDowell said. “But at the same time, too, I understood that racism in America never truly died.”
The police arrived a few minutes after and thankfully, the officers did not ask for his ID and also acknowledged that he did nothing wrong.
However, the store clerk is keen in claiming that she never mentioned about McDowell’s race even after the video was shown to her.
“There’s nothing right about this, there’s nothing right to call the police on someone just because of their skin tone,” McDowell told KRQE.
McDowell, a pre-med Xavier University senior and an aspiring surgeon, said he and five other students are visiting Santa Fe to study Native American culture. He said he loved the place despite the incident.
He said, “I just want everyone to know you still have a voice, you can speak up, you still can do your part and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”