Myer accused of racially profiling Aboriginal boy shopping for school formal

A Perth father has accused Myer staff members of racially profiling his son while the pair were shopping for the teenager’s school formal.

Shem Garlett and his son, Jaylen, were shopping at the Forrest Chase store, in Perth’s inner-city, on March 8 when he said staff called security after spotting the 16-year-old by himself when his father left him alone to make a phone call.

“While my son was trying on shirts I needed to use my phone to contact my girlfriend who was meeting us afterwards,” Mr Garlett wrote in a copy of his complaint letter to Myer, which he posted on Facebook.

“The phone reception was bad so I made my way to the escalator area and allowed Jaylen to continue trying on shirts in the fitting room with the assistance of [a staff member].

“While I was texting I heard a call over the intercom calling for security to attend the men’s formal wear fitting room.”

Mr Garlett headed back to the fitting rooms to check on his son but as he neared he saw a group of staff had gathered in the area.

He asked a staff member at the service desk if everything was okay and was told: “There was a boy unaccompanied in the change rooms that didn’t have anything to try on so she called security”.

The father then told the staff member she had called security on his son and explained he was alone because her colleague had gone to get another shirt for him to try on.

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Mr Garlett said the staff member who had called security looked “stunned” and he asked her why she called security on his son.

“She told me that last week a purse was taken from the service area, expecting me to understand. I asked what this had to do with my son, but no response,” Mr Garlett said.

“I then explained to her that this is not the first time he’s had security called on him and it is for this reason I don’t allow him to shop in Myer or David Jones alone.

“I suggested that she was racially profiling as the only thing she would have noticed was a young Aboriginal man, in her mind, appearing to be in the wrong place.

“This is not grounds to make a panicked call for security over the intercom. She did not witness any crime being committed.

“There were at least 10 staff including security in the area within 30 seconds.”

Mr Garlett said staff members looked “confused and embarrassed” when they made their way up to the counter to make their $200-plus purchase - including a button-up shirt, tie and pocket square - even though he was “tempted to just walk away”.

He also said this was not an isolated incident as similar experiences had happened to his Indigenous friends and families.

In his letter, Mr Garlett said he would be making a complaint to the Equal Opportunities Commission if he was not satisfied with Myer’s response.

A Myer spokesperson said they had looked into the matter and the incident unfolded “due to a misunderstanding between team members when the customer entered the change rooms without any clothing items”.

“There were no other factors involved. We have met with the family and apologised,” the spokesperson said.

“Myer is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion across our stores and workplaces and we want our customers to feel welcome and safe shopping with us irrespective of gender, background or sexuality.”

Mr Garlett said he wanted to share his experience because he wanted to raise awareness of racial profiling of Indigenous people.

Since making the post last Tuesday, he said a lot of people had come forward with their own stories of discrimination.

But he said even though he accepted Myer's apology, more needed to be done to address the issue that goes beyond this isolated incident.

"This is not the first time it has happened and many other people are responding to this and other people have shared their experiences," Mr Garlett told Yahoo!7.

He also suggested employers have a discussion with their workers about racial bias and unconscious racial bias because these matters needed to be discussed and understood for the problem to be addressed.

The father said sometimes as an Indigenous person it does not matter if you are a "successful person, own property, have a job and a good income... if you're not dressed right, you’re getting attention of security and staff".