Iowa’s West Des Moines Location of Old Navy Closes After Allegedly Being Involved in a Racial Profiling Incident
An Old Navy clothing store is temporarily closed in West Des Moines after a man from Iowa claimed that he was racially profiled in a Facebook post.
James Conley III posted on his personal Facebook page about the entire incident. The post consisted of videos and photos of the encounter between Conley and the store manager and employees at Jordan Creek Town Center. As of now, the post has over 93,000 shares and 58,000 interactions that do not include comments and the number of these interactions are still increasing.
The videos and photos in Conley’s post show the store manager and employee checking and scanning his blue jacket that Conley claimed that he walked in the store with. Conley says in one of his videos while walking out the store, “I literally just got stereotyped because of the color of my skin. They think I stole my jacket that I walked in with.”
Videos also show the manager and employee telling Conley to stop filming and that they do not allow filming in the store. The post stated, “I was accused that I didn’t pay for my bubble jacket that I got for Christmas that I wore to the store.”
Des Moines Register reported that Conley is now being represented by Brandon Brown and Alfredo Parrish of the Parrish Kruidenier law firm in Des Moines. It was also stated that Conley would not release a public statement until he consulted with legal representation.
This location of Old Navy, which is located at 6805 Mills Civic Parkway in West Des Moines had signs taped to the doors of the store stating that it was temporarily closed. This incident caused outrage on Facebook and also spread to Twitter.
If this makes you mad, like it should, why don’t you go ahead and join me in calling this old navy when it opens at 9 am :)))) 1-515-267-8071 pic.twitter.com/An744vsP3N
— kassidy (@seinfeldisfunny) January 31, 2018
Hey old navy, if you could please elaborate on the policy that supposedly states “anytime someone wears Old Navy clothing they have to always scan that customers clothing to insure that it was previously purchased” #OldNavy
pic.twitter.com/El7t33gluO— Metanoia Panda (@AdornByPanda) January 31, 2018
Owned by Gap Inc., Old Navy released a statement to the Register. “We are a company made up of diverse people — from all different backgrounds and cultures,” Liz Nunan, spokeswoman of Old Navy told the Register via email. “We encourage diversity in thought, celebrate diversity in each other and demand tolerance and inclusion, always.”
