Anne Arundel Mills, MD — Barbara and Bahri Wallace, an African American couple from Maryland, are suing Costo after they say they were reportedly watched by management as they shopped for a refrigerator. Even worse, a call was made to 911 in reference to the Wallaces, and the caller told police that there was a robbery in progress.
Police officers were then given the license plate number of the couple’s truck. When officers arrived, they pulled the Wallaces over in their vehicle as they were leaving and they quickly determined that no crime was being committed. But naturally, the Wallaces were upset and went back inside the store to confront the manager.
Bahri told reporters that she asked him, “Did you call the police on us saying we were shoplifting?” And his response was, “You fit the bill. African-American male and female, and your wife is carrying a blue purse.”
Since the incident, the manager nor Costco’s head office has issued a public apology to the couple. But Costco did release a statement denying their guilt by saying that “law enforcement, not Costco, made the decision to execute the stop… Its staff communicated to a patrol officer that it had not found reason to detain the Wallaces.”
Sadly, this seems to reflect Costco’s overall commitment to diversity, inclusion, and fairness as a company. According to Diversity Inc, the company is led by a predominantly male executive leadership team that includes one woman, one Latino and one man of Middle Eastern-descent. Even worse, Costco has never participated in DiversityInc‘s Top 50 Companies for Diversity competition.
Watch the local news coverage below: