New York teen Trayon Christian was arrested by undercover cops after legally purchasing a $350 belt from Barneys on Madison Avenue. His crime? Being black.
The 19-year-old student from Queens said he saved up his money from a work-study job for the Salvatore Ferragamo belt and photos floating about the Internet do confirm that he's something of a street-savvy dandy. He went into the flagship shop in April and while the sales transaction was completed without incident, the sales clerk must have called the police because two of them arrested him less than a block away.
The cops hassled the dedicated follower of fashion, demanding to know how a young man of his complexion was able to afford such a luxury. They took him into the station and made him wait in a cell like a criminal, regardless of the fact he had done nothing wrong apart from blowing a lot of hard-earned cash on a bit of designer flash. He claims he was stuck in jail for two hours, while the police officially claim it was only 41 or 42 minutes, depending on which report you read. Either way, it's a long time to be imprisoned for being black, which is the real point here.
The cops called his bank which confirmed that he was indeed the account holder and then they let him go. One report said they apologized for the gaff, but they probably didn't expect the young man to turn around and slap a lawsuit against both them and Barneys.
Barneys, caught with their hand on the cookie jar of ugly racism, put a notice up on Facebook saying that none of their staff members were involved in Christian's arrest, apart from selling him the belt. But everyone knows that's a crock because the cops didn't suddenly appear on their own accord; SOMEBODY tipped them off. But they're playing dumb, which, in light of all of this mess, is probably about right.
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