News

Two black men ejected from gym by police despite being paying members

Two black men ejected from gym by police despite being paying members

It was just a few weeks ago that Starbucks made headlines for wrongfully calling the police on two black men in a Philadelphia branch.

The two men had been waiting for a colleague. While they waited, they requested to use the bathroom, but were refused because they weren't paying customers. Staff escalated the situation, calling police officers who then escorted them out of the store for no good reason.

Starbucks has since announced that it will close its doors for 'racial bias training' in an attempt to resolve the scandal and prevent it from happening again.

Now, a similar incident, which took place in a New Jersey's branch of LA Fitness last week, has gone viral.

Two young men, 27-year-old Rachid Maiga and 25-year-old Tshyrad Oates, were confronted by staff for allegedly failing to pay to enter.

Speaking to WNBC-TV,they explained that they were both members, yet when they tried to confirm this to staff they were seemingly not listened to. Management quickly called the police, at which point the men started filming situation in order to raise the point of racial profiling.

The gym later apologised and terminated the members of staff involved in the incident:

Regrettably, staff unnecessarily escalated the situation and called the police rather than working through it.

Their lawyer, William Wagstaff III, later described the apology as 'hollow' and claimed that no apology would have been given had the video not garnered so much attention.

Their experiences have once again raised the issue of racial profiling and highlighted its effect. Oates describes this visibility as positive, stating:

We have to say something, continually speak up and not be nervous to speak about these situations.

We need to continue talking about it until people realise that it's wrong.

More: This Starbucks barista called out white customers for problematic responses to racial bias training

The Conversation (0)