FELICIA JOHNSON
Last year my daughter and 5-year-old granddaughter and I went to make a clothing donation to Thrift Store in Gonzales, LA.
While we were in there, my granddaughter had to use the restroom. We asked one of the ladies that was working in there could she use their restroom, and she told us that they didn’t have a public restroom. But there were two restrooms in the building, one was for women and the other for men. I asked her nicely, mam can she please use the restroom, she still told me no. Now mind you, we were the only black people there. There were about 10 other white women and children in there as well.
So as we were about to leave the store, I heard one of the other customers ask could their child use the restroom. One of the workers said sure, it’s right over here. So I went back to the store and asked to speak to the manager. It was a white lady that came out of her office to see what I needed. I said mam, when I asked could my granddaughter use the restroom, I was told that the store didn’t have a public restroom. But yet you just let this white lady and her child use your restroom.
The manager point blank told me that sometimes we do make exceptions. So the exception must be the color of your skin.
So I politely to told her to give me back all of my items that I just brought in to donate. When I got home, I emailed the corporate office about this incident, but no one ever reached out to me.
So how do you explain to a 5 year old why she couldn’t use the restroom, that other people can use.
My six words:
IT’S THE COLOR OF OUR SKIN
