By Sean Walsh
The Daily Northwestern
A protest in front of the Magnificent Mile H&M department store, 840 N. Michigan Ave., added to the usual throng of shoppers and tourists Saturday.
The demonstrators, including at least eight Northwestern students, were condemning H&M for failing to take action when a salesperson allegedly made racist and sexist comments to a female Filipino-American shopper. Holding signs and shouting coordinated chants, such as “2-4-6-8, H&M discriminates” and “Hey hey ho ho, racist employees have got to go,” the protestors marched in a circle on the sidewalk from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“It was really empowering,” said Leizl Rivadelo, a Communication sophomore and member of Kaibigan, NU’s Filipino student association. “It was like a giant, well-oiled machine.”
Rivadelo heard about the protest through a performance group called Young Asians with Power. Members of the Race Alliance at Northwestern also attended.
The complainant, Frannie Richards, is a retired U.S. Air Force Reserve Staff Sergeant and a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, NU’s primary teaching hospital for the Feinberg School of Medicine. A press release from the Asian American Institute, which is representing Richards in legal negotiations with H&M, reported that the employee called her a “mail-order bride” and made “ching, ching, chang” noises to mock her ability to speak English, although she does not have a foreign accent.
“(Frannie) couldn’t believe it happened,” said Robyn Richards, Frannie’s sister. “She was wearing her scrubs, and it’s not even like she can’t speak English. She talked to two managers, who just said ‘We can’t do anything about it,’ and told her to write to H&M anonymously.”
“As you can see, it’s not affecting business,” H&M employee James LaForce said. Although LaForce could not comment on Richards’ situation, he distributed a statement from Lisa Sandberg, communications and press director for H&M.
“As an equal opportunity employer, H&M does not tolerate harassment, discrimination and/or violence of any type,” Sandberg wrote in the statement. “Once H&M is made aware of a potential breach of this policy, it takes immediate steps to respond by investigating, gathering facts and determining the appropriate outcome.”
“Although we have not heard from H&M directly, an investigator from the Chicago Commission on Human Relations is acting as a mediator between us and H&M,” said Myron Quon, the Asian American Institute’s attorney for Richards.
“We understand that they want to settle out of court, rather than a public decision. We are asking for three things: termination of the employee, compensation for emotional distress and diversity training (for all H&M employees).”
Quon also commented on the strength of character displayed by Richards in her decision to go public with the issue.
“AAI represents Frannie because she represents a lot of Asian Americans,” Quon said. “She is proving that people need to be more assertive, instead of just sucking it up and living with discrimination.”
Demonstration coordinators and protestors said they were satisfied with the effectiveness of the event.
“It’s a shame that minorities have to worry about things like this,” said Jennifer Canda, a family friend of the Richards’, who was out protesting. “This has been a huge success, though. The more people we meet, the more we accomplish.”
Reach Sean Walsh at [email protected].
