A Black father in South Carolina is speaking out after he says his son and his son’s friends were racially profiled while shopping at a Myrtle Beach mall.
Chris, from Columbia, South Carolina, joined his son and his friends on their senior trip to Myrtle Beach. He told The Root that he tagged along because he did not feel comfortable with the 18 year olds traveling alone to a place he says has a reputation for being unwelcoming to Black visitors.
During the trip, the group stopped at Fun Wear Sports in Myrtle Beach Mall. Chris told local station WPDE he felt watched from the moment they walked in, and that the store owner, Michael, questioned the group after they started laughing at an inside joke.
According to BET, Chris says Michael told the group to stay in one place so he could keep an eye on them while he called mall security. Chris’s son Jonathan began recording on his phone. Chris told WPDE that in the video Michael can be heard describing the group to security by number. Security then arrived and told the group to leave.
Chris says he stood outside and watched other customers come and go without being stopped, and that his son and friends were not being loud or disruptive. He told The Root he sat in his car for 30 to 45 minutes to calm down. The video was posted to Facebook on June 12 and went viral.
Michael told WPDE that the group was being too loud and scaring customers away, and that he did not like Chris telling the young men to ignore him.
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