(USA Today) The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened to boycott high-end Barneys New York on Saturday amid racial profiling allegations brought forth by black shoppers in New York City.
“We’ve gone from stop and frisk to shop and frisk, and we are not going to take it,” Sharpton said during a weekly rally at his National Action Network’s headquarters in Harlem. “We are not going to live in a town where our money is considered suspect and everyone else’s money is respected.”
Joining Sharpton at the rally, Kirsten John Foy with National Action Network said the civil rights activist would be meeting with Barneys officials Tuesday to discuss the allegations. Sharpton called for a boycott of the store if the luxury retailer’s response is inadequate.
[…] On Wednesday, 21-year-old nursing student Kayla Phillips alleged four plainclothes officers accused her of credit card fraud in February after she bought a $2,500 bag from Barneys, according to the Daily News.
Phillips told the news organization that she’d been wanting the orange suede bag for awhile and when she received her tax return, she decided to treat herself.
Philips said she purchased the bag but was approached by police three blocks away at a subway station.
“There were three men and a woman,” she told the Daily News. “Two of them attacked me and pushed me against a wall, and the other two appeared in front of me, blocking the turnstile.”
They hit her with questions and demanded identification, she said. She has filed a $5 million notice of claim with the city indicating she intends to sue the NYPD. (read more)
Last I knew Al owed the IRS $2.1 and the state $900,000- ” Broham, can you spare a dime?”
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“..if the luxury retailer’s response is inadequate.”
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Let him boycott all he wants.
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The real story here is a 21 year-old nursing student, who probably has lots of school-related costs, takes her tax return and —– buys books? pays the rent? pays tuition? No, she purchases an expensive handbag. “Treating yourself” means going out for pizza or ice cream or the movies. This woman sounds like she’s a piece of work. I am guessing there is much more to the story than meets the eye.
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Lately, my personal treat has consisted of buying a can of Mountain Dew at the laundromat. The concept of a $2500 treat never entered my mind even when I had a good job. I once spent $80 on a purse, but 10 years later, I am still carrying it, and it my only purse.
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It is Earned Income Credit. It is not a refund. Bet on it.
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Yep. And she’s affirmative action and subsidized her entire life.
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We will have to watch this one, These huge tax refunds when one doesnt even pay into the system are ridiculous. I know people who get $6K returns yet they have not worked in years. Yet I do agree she was targeted, her credit card information, ID shown when purchasing, should not have indicated any theft. Her theft probably comes from entitlement programs. Hope I am wrong, hope she works two jobs while is in school and is not using Pell, is not using foodstamps, housing. Hope it gets investigated and we find out.
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A new shakedown scam is what’s going on here.
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She looks like Rachel Jenteel.
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Oh, and this sounds like “Oprah Lite” — remember the purse “event” in Zurich recently? My guess is that this woman will be on Oprah and the two girlz can talk about whitey.
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Oh, yes Sharpton call for a boycott. I’m sure you’ll double their business. Good for them.
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It may not double their business, but losses due to shoplifting will go way down.
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And… is that Rachel Jeantal in the picture??
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My sentiments exactly, another Stealth ninja turtle
This is what happens when Al baby has a Benjamin shortage.
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Plot twist:
That’s the real Dee Dee spending her buy off money.
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Dittos. I wondered the same. Also, the other Barney’s accuser’s name is similar to another player in that previous farce: Trayon, no V.
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Bwaaahaahaaa!!!! I knew she looked famailar!
😃😃😃
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Lmfao. I thought the same thing.
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That’s what I said. It looks just like her.
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Has not missed any meals, has she? I bet she could swallow my ’95 Buick Riviera in one gulp.
Damn it to heck, I suppose I am yet again a racist!
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well, I guess the store owners can now hire less security guards to prevent violence and rush mobs.
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Sharpton probably gave her the money & put her up to this on purpose.
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What exactly does the store have to do with the behavior of NYPD officers outside of the store 3 blocks away at a subway station?
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This is what I want to know.
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Hmm. I wonder if they ran her credit card and after she left the store it came back that it was either stolen or something, making them call the police.
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Speaking of the ole devil, Sharpton had business dealings with Jimmy (Rosemond) Henchman. Henchman just got life plus 5 years for drug trafficking.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hip-hop-mogul-life-prison-drug-trafficking-article-1.1497044#ixzz2iuCMQaJv
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Yes, whites are evil. But we dont go around killing WWII vets because their black. What a bizarre world.
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This is simple extortion. There will be a donation, probably large, to Al’s Action Network and some classes on sensitivity. Al Sharpton learned from the master, Jessie Jackson.
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Al’s Tawana Brawley of 2013…nothing but a shakedown of a high end retail icon.
$2500 refund… Who did her taxes ??
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Perhaps if Sharptons faithful followers were not leading the nation in the Top Ethnic Group for Thievery, they wouldn’t be profiled.
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Ya think? They NEVER want to address that and their love of violence having anything to do with why the poor, poor fat blacks have no grocery stores in their neighborhoods.
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a nursing STUDENT receives a $2500 refund? I wonder how much she made and why she loaned the government this amount of money interest free for the entire year? …. She just recently received her tax refund? If she was receiving a refund, why did she wait so long to file? …. Watch , she’s probably receiving grants or aid of some type as well.
If a white person went in dressed like she is in the picture and tried to buy a ridiculously expensive luxury product, it would raise red flags as well. (Especially with the amount of credit card fraud that exists.)
I cant wait to see the tax return, the facts don’t make sense that someone would spend $2500 for a purse If that was their savings in total.
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Her story is so unbelievably fishy. Someone put her up to this. Part of a plan. And yes, she could be Jeantel’s sister.
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In that pic she looks a lot like Gabourey Sidibe’s character in the 2009 film “Precious”
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The incident concerning the purse occurred in Feb 2013. It seems that the Barney’s employees allowed her to complete the purchase and leave the store (maybe to avoid a “scene”)) but had suspicions about the temporary debit card which she used to for the purchase. I worked in retail for a number of years, so I understand how a card can be “approved” at the time of a sale, but then a “chargeback” can be taken by the bank or CC company later.
http://www.ibtimes.com/meet-kayla-phillips-another-barneys-shopper-accused-credit-card-fraud-buying-designer-handbag-report
My guess? What probably happened was a (new?) clerk rang up the sale, fully expecting the debit card to be “declined”,(since it was a temporary card and had no name on it) and was dumbfounded when it came up “approved”. Unable to refuse the sale, the clerk completed the transaction, but alerted a manager who had a “WTF” moment and called the police, suspecting CC fraud of one type or another.This explains why the police reacted so quickly to someone who they thought would just “disappear” with the $2500 designer handbag.
I would imagine that Barney’s has a policy to NOT accept cards that do not bear a name on them, or that (considering their clientele) don’t have customers present “temporary” cards very often.
I wonder if THAT clerk kept his/her job?
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What is this temporary, no name card BS you speak of? I have never heard of such a stupid idea. I ALWAYS have to wait to get a new card, what is this BS?
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When you are programming your own cards, they don’t come with names on them ;)
With the amount of card skimming scams at ATM’s and other retailers, I don’t blame them for being suspicious. And when buying a $2500 hand bag, in your early 20’s, I would personally find that suspicious anyhow… when I was that age $2500 would have represented the purchase price of about 3 of my cars combined!!
Hell, I’m out of school, loans paid, my truck is paid for, and I have a good job… but if I had $250 (let alone $2500) to treat myself to something… I’d be doing a double check on my bills to see what I had forgot!!!
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I’ve never had that much of a tax refund, and anyway when I get one the last thing would buy is a purse. Good grief!
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I went in that store with my daughter a few years ago on a trip. My guess is that they will welcome the boycott if they can get past the bad press. BTW my daughter didn’t buy anything but we weren’t bum rushed out either.
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Let’s see, the theives are going to refuse to shoplift in that store. Do I have that right? Good, honest, black people will not be involved in the boycott, I am certain.
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Didn’t she just testify at some trial recently? That’s real retarded, sirrrrr.
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You all have it right… this is a conspiracy by Rev Al, et al to extort NYC businesses. Al should understand that he is in stiff competition with the City gubbmint. Much more of this, and businesses will close up or flee Gotham City. The liability involved in having agents provocateur like the 2.5k handbag buyer and others is too much. Those businesses operate on thin margins as it is. You have to sell a lot of swag to make up the loss, and the loss invariably gets passed off to honest consumers in the form of higher prices.
This is another case of the “gibs me dat” veiled shakedown.
Somehow, I cannot find examples where the fact pattern is changed by one (just one) detail.
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A tax refund in OCTOBER? i’m betting a PELL GRANT “check” from the Government, left-overs from a Grant that the TAX PAYER Provided,(for those Nursing classes),
Or what was alluded to above, Agent Provocateur, (as We now have seen 3 back to back recently) .. My 2 cents. Besides Who in their right mind pays 2500.00 for a purse? (BESIDES Looney H-Wood types)
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This happened in Feb 2013.
http://www.ibtimes.com/meet-kayla-phillips-another-barneys-shopper-accused-credit-card-fraud-buying-designer-handbag-report
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This happened in Feb 2013. I tried to include a link to an article with the particulars about her claim, but it’s caught in Spamurgatory.
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Utter over-the-top nonsense. A 21-year-old nursing student gets a $2500 tax return? I’ll throw the BS flag on that aspect alone. She was nabbed for credit card fraud.
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Why do I have the feeling that she is going to school on government grants..
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I am pretty confident she’s signed up for a whole raft of government largesse. The photo is cropped, but in other photos, she’s visibly pregnant – so that means at a minimum, WIC supplements – and other means-tested programs that allegedly have stringent amounts one can have in “savings” and earnings – yet she feels entitled to “treat” herself to a $2,500 bag after pointing out she also was carrying a pricey Chanel bag when the police allegedly ran her down.
I smell a rat, but it certainly highlights the “two Americas” – the producers and those who are vocal about their “entitlements”.
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$2500 designer handbags
$350 belts
Nice to see people got their priorities straight.
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I hope their sales clerks know to keep a look out for Oprah. Oh, wait, that bag was only 25-hundred.
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She was using a temporary replacement card (takes about 7 to 10 business days to get a permanent replacement card in the mail)…
So we can gather then that she had ~very recently~ reported the original card as either stolen or lost, or she had contested charges on the account as unauthorized (which would prompt the bank to cancel the original card and reissue a new one).
Anyhoo, if she wants to publicly accuse the store and the NYPD of racism, that should be construed as a waiver of privacy and the accused should be allowed to speak freely about the issues with her account that led to her being approached by detectives.
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Much ado…
Boycott the place. Shut it down if you can.
Just leave Sears, Target and Walmart the heck alone!
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This is a retelling of the Oprah-racist-$38,000-orange-Alligator-Swiss-purse lie.
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Let me get this straight…..she is a STUDENT with no mention of a JOB and got a tax return of $2500?? Meanwhile…..my husband and I, who work incredibly hard, get NO FREEBIES to help support our family, and have paid A LARGE PORTION of our incomes in taxes, are STILL WAITING for our tax refunds for the past 2 YEARS due to our identity being stolen TWICE and jumping through an INSANE NUMBER OF IRS HOOPS ( signing task force forms giving them the ability to investigate and figure out who stole our hard earned refunds, numerous appointment at IRS office, etc.) with no end to this saga in sight……mmmmmmKay!! Sounds about right…..ARRGGHHHHHH!!,!!
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A temporary credit card and a deja vu expensive purse in a racist shop. Sharpton and the nursing student is a grift set up, where Al is the papa and the *cough* Rachel Jeantel look alike is Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon.
‘I gave you a $20 bill not a $5 bill, waaaaaannnh, I’m telling!’
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I don’t understand Sharpton’s actions. She’s filing a civil suit. If there’s a punitive damages judgement against Barney’s (and we don’t know their side of this), isn’t that enough punishment for them? What does Sharpton want? Shouldn’t he at least wait for the outcome of the civil suit?
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Is that Rachel Jeantel in the accompanying photo? Is is that just retarded, sir?
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