Teen charged in NJ Walmart racial comment case

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy patronizing a Walmart store in southern New Jersey took over the public-address system and ordered black people to leave, angering customers and prompting company leaders to apologize, police said Saturday.Police said the boy, whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile, went on the intercom at Walmart's Washington Township store Sunday evening and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now."The teen was arrested Friday on charges of harassment and bias intimidation. Authorities said he was released to the custody of his parents; they did not know whether he had a lawyer."This was an extremely disturbing event on many levels," Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said at a news conference. "Any statements like these that can cause harm or grave concern must be addressed as quickly we possibly can."Dalton said the case would be handled in juvenile court in neighboring Atlantic County, where the boy lives. He would not say whether the boy has a criminal record, citing the teen's age, and would not disclose the teen's race, saying that did not factor into the investigation.Authorities would not say whether the announcement was planned or made impulsively. Police said they were also investigating a teenage boy who accompanied the suspect to the store, but they had not charged the other boy.Although a manager quickly went on the intercom system and apologized for the remark, many customers expressed their anger to store management. Some community members said Saturday that they've heard reports of similar incidents happening at the store in recent months that were not reported to police."We are concerned about that, and we're looking into these incidents. We want to work with the community to make sure these types of incidents don't happen," said Loretta Winters, president of the Gloucester County chapter of the NAACP.Winters said she hopes the boy will get counseling and be educated about sensitivity so he can understand the consequences of his actions."I'm assuming this person didn't realize how hurtful his comments were," she said.Officials for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the announcement was "unacceptable," and Dalton praised the company for its strong cooperation in the investigation."We're pleased this matter is resolved," Walmart spokesman David Tovar said in a statement issued after the news conference. "We have updated our intercom system at this store to prevent this from happening again. We again apologize to all of our customers and associates who had to listen to something so offensive."The incident was the latest in a series of problems the retailer has had in its dealings with minorities and women.There have been several past instances of black customers claiming they were treated unfairly at Walmart stores, and the company faced lawsuits alleging that women were passed over in favor of men for pay raises and promotions.In February 2009, the retailer paid $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in its hiring of truck drivers.And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company in May 2009, claiming some Hispanic employees at a Sam's Club subsidiary in California were subjected to a hostile work environment. That suit alleges managers failed to stop repeated verbal harassment, including the use of derogatory words, against employees of Mexican descent.However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has said the company has worked hard in recent years to show it cares about diversity.

racists... >_<

Very interesting.I never have heard of someone doing that. Only having the employees calling dirty names, like Harry Cocks and the such. :PBut that is just down-right wrong on many levels.

What a stupid person. Simple as that. I don't care if he's 16 or 60, you just shouldn't be talking or even thinking about that sort of stuff at all.The good thing about today is "most" children grow up with absoloutly no care for what color/race another child is, they just treat another person as any other child they see.I personally blame the parents of this 16 year old. In most cases it's the parents that put these racial comments in their heads in the first place.

Replying to #3

Agreed.Also, this remembered me of the guy that started breaking LCD TVs in Wallmart using a baseball bat(also from Wallmart) for some reason. Wallmart is a place where weird stuff happens.

Sounds like he was just joking, i laughed anyway. Reminds me of a joke about scotland i heard... "Scotland! Hiding our black people since 1986!" Or some date similar to that. What i am trying to say is get the fuck over it! People who cry foul whenever race is even mentioned are pretty much keeping it alive.

Yeah i found this funny.
A kid having a joke. Who would hear that and be like "Oh my, c'mon children, we must get our things and go"
You'd think you'd realize it was a mock and just laugh about it. Find it pretty stupid that people would complain, once the manager has said "it was a kid doing it" you'd move on. Wish they released some camera footage of the people so we could all have a laugh at it.

If a Black kid shouted "will all white people leave the store",it wouldnt bother me.Its just a prank/practical joke.Would there be such an outcry if he shouted about chinese/muslims/gays to leave the store.

Replying to #7

If he said Muslims, the outcry would be alot bigger.

Replying to #8

Yeah. He won't be leaving without injuries if he said lebs either =/

Call it a hunch, but I highly doubt racism had anything to do with why the kid said what he did. I was 16 once myself and I'd do stupid shit like this all the time.Just some overly sensitive people(read: whiny cunts) deciding to completely ruin some kid's life over words he probably didn't mean in the first place.America at it's finest folks.

Hey there, Anon. I missed your weird-ass public shenangians.

racism is part of human nature, its the by product of competition, no matter how hard you try, you cant kill racism.

Reider · #10Call it a hunch, but I highly doubt racism had anything to do with why the kid said what he did. I was 16 once myself and I'd do stupid shit like this all the time.Just some overly sensitive people(read: whiny cunts) deciding to completely ruin some kid's life over words he probably didn't mean in the first place.America at it's finest folks.

Preety much agreed with you here, when your young you do stupid things...with little disregard for other's feelings.However when I was younger I had a little more consideration (strict parents up bringing) so I'd likly snap at the kid like these people as well.At 16 you should know about racism FFS!(If he was 16 that is...)

Replying to #12

Metallica-"Sad but true"

Buppazugan · #8If he said Muslims, the outcry would be alot bigger.

EXACTLY!!!If you did that here in Australia...but said indians...all of india would come down on us yet again :(Some jokes are ok, but this...I'm offended and I'm not black.

Reider · #10Call it a hunch, but I highly doubt racism had anything to do with why the kid said what he did. I was 16 once myself and I'd do stupid shit like this all the time.Just some overly sensitive people(read: whiny cunts) deciding to completely ruin some kid's life over words he probably didn't mean in the first place.America at it's finest folks.

Britain is much worse.

Reider · #10Call it a hunch, but I highly doubt racism had anything to do with why the kid said what he did. I was 16 once myself and I'd do stupid shit like this all the time.Just some overly sensitive people(read: whiny cunts) deciding to completely ruin some kid's life over words he probably didn't mean in the first place.America at it's finest folks.

i personally think age is not an excuse, i have to agree with raysie. it doesn't matter if he's a 16 yr old kid, he knows what he's doing. just because you are young and you need lots of attention, you can do stupid things. when i was 16, my guy friends don't do pranks with racial comments. i think this kid has a pathetic way of pulling pranks. he could have told everyone that a suicide bomber is loitering around walmart and that everyone should move out of the store immediately. that way, people will give more attention to him.

calvin_0 · #12racism is part of human nature, its the by product of competition, no matter how hard you try, you cant kill racism.

that is debatable. i've seen a sick racist family while watching tyra banks show years ago. the parents were teaching their own children that only their so-called 'race' should own america. do you think it's human nature or just pure hypocracy? here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdi_VHvCR3A

Replying to #15

I just watched that raciest family...Someone needs a bitch slap :)

It was a harmless joke in a country full of politically correct bullshit. Simple as.

its a joke that is not funny. why would he say that using the store's intercom? motivation? prank?
that kid knows what he is doing and liable for that act, i would understand a 3 year-old would say that but 16?Really stupid. Good thing he wasn't hurt or killed.

klaimore · #9Yeah. He won't be leaving without injuries if he said lebs either =/

Yeah he would. Its New Jersey, we only care about race when we have too. And that tends to be whenever black folks make a stink. What a waste of time this is. "Lets send to police out to arrest a sixteen year old because he said something mean." Real good use of my tax dollars there. Instead of dealing with the rampant heroin and cocaine problem, lets bust kids for asking people to leave a store. Makes me want to go down to the Walmart in town to "Kindly, and with our stores best intentions, ask all the undesirable dregs of society, that is, anyone making less than 150,000 a year to leave the store and put a bullet in your brains (aisle 32 sporting goods) so that America can finally prosper. Thank you Walmart shoppers."I mean come on, who really gives a shit here?

The problem here is:-If a black kid insults a white kid, he's joking.-If a white kid insults a black kid, he's racist.And still, you see a lot of black people praising the "Black Pride" kinda stuff all over the place. Kina like: A black person can wear a t-shirt that says "100% black" without any problems. Guess what happens when a white person wears a t-shirt saying "100% white"? XDAnd probably I will be called Nazi or something by making this post, XD