(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
When racial profiling is practiced by the police or a government agency, it’s a problematic violation of rights. But when it’s done by business entities, it’s just… kind of funny. Like, it’s annoying of course, but it’s just so freaking dumb that you almost can’t help laughing. When businesses cares more about “black” than “green,” well, they play themselves.
Christopher Sampino, an ex-Versace employee in the Bay Area, claims that his employer discriminated against him when he revealed that he was one-quarter black — black by ancestry I assume, not one-quarter like Ben Carson (I kid).
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Sampino allegedly revealed his Ancestry DNA findings after a store manager disclosed the special procedure for African-American customers. From Fashionista:
Sampino stated that he was instructed to use code word “D410” to alert employees when a black customer entered the store. (Complex notes that D410 is Versace’s “official code for black-color clothing.”) Upon receiving this instruction, Sampino reportedly responded to his manager with the following: “You know that I’m African-American?” (The lawsuit notes that Sampino is one quarter African-American.) He alleges that, following this comment, he received lesser treatment from the store’s management.
Versace denies the allegations. But, if true, the allegations are hilarious. Right? Come on. You’re telling me Beyoncé walks into the Versace store and somebody is whispering into a walkie-talkie, “D-410. I say again, D-4-1-0. LOCK DOWN the Jagged Baroque! We know the Negro can’t afford it!”
I know I’m not supposed to laugh at racism, but… it’s so stupid. Sampino had to announce his blackness, and then people allegedly started mistreating him? Think about the idiocy of that. “I was going to be nice to you, until I found out that one of your ancestors likely raped a slave, now, I must D410 you.”
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Whatever. Screw Versace (allegedly). I only want to buy my Vitello Palazzo $1,300 man purse from a black-owned business on Canal Street anyway. But I’ve got to save my anti-profiling rage for the cops, or the president, and not waste it on the anachronistic store clerk.
Versace Accused of Using a Code Word for Black Customers in Lawsuit [Fashionista]
Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.