Let's Talk | Anthropologie & Racial Profiling

As you know there has been outrage since the killing of George Floyd, since then companies have come forward stating how they are pro BLM and against racism. However, with companies coming forward stating this, employees and customers are replying back with how such companies are in fact NOT for equality and are very much racist. The company in how water now is boho brand Anthropologie. 

Last week they posted a quote by Maya Angelou that people took to mean All Lives Matter vs Black Lives Matter. Since, employees have come forward saying that they were told to use the word "Nick" to let employees know when a black person came into the store. Mind you this is employees from North America and Canada, so various people from all areas stated that this was true. On top of that, customers were telling they're stories of how they were followed while shopping at Anthropologie. 

"Maya Angelou’s words, more resonant than ever, are a call for equality and empathy. Our hearts, with yours, are breaking at current events, and now is the time for change. ⁣

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Community is the foundation on which our brand was built. Our priorities are improvement, respect, and education – now is the time to learn and grow."

They then made another post stating who they were donating to and what changes would be made. However, people were still putting them on blast for not acknowledging how they were treating black customers. So yesterday they put out another post saying that allegations were false and they have zero tolerance for discrimination. My thing is, why not investigate it vs just automatically saying it never happened. 

Well receipts were pulled from Lydia Okello of @stylesisstyle, on Instagram 4 days ago about her experience with Anthropologie. She was contacted by a producer to participate in Anthropologie's Pride campaign. She stated her price and was told by Anthropologie that they had no budget, which means they basically wanted her to work for free. She has a following of 27.8K, so if she were to post their items on her IG page, that would be a huge audience.  Herself and other bloggers stated how this happens a lot to black bloggers, where they are asked to work for free and get paid in exposure. She stated, how is a multi-million dollar company working with no budget, which is a fair and legit question. 

I am here for all of this! I am loving how these companies are being put on blast. You say you are against racism and for equality however behind closed doors that is not at all what is going on. I am tired of companies only posting about BLM or equality because everyone else is doing it because if you don't care, fine. Just don't be fake and post things just because its on trend. Black lives and our movement is not a trend, this is real life. 

Don't say your are for black lives when your headquarters have little to no black or brown people. Or your catalogs and social media pages don't even have a sprinkle of black or brown people. Like COME ON!