Sign the petition: Protest "Shopping While Black" Policy in New York City

Lately in Manhattan, several black shoppers have been harassed by NYPD for making purchases at luxury stores that they can't possibly afford (even though they have the receipt to prove it). A third incident occurred at Macy's in Manhattan to Ron Brown, a celebrity and actor on the HBO series, Treme. The accusation is strikingly similar to what detectives allegedly asked a 19-year-old black student from Queens after he splurged on a $350 Ferragamo belt at Barneys this past April.

The third black New Yorker suing the NYPD for an allegedly unlawful stop and search while shopping is an actor who starred with Sean Connery in “Finding Forrester” and in HBO’s “Treme” – and he is after only justice, not money, his lawyer told the Post.

“The bottom line is…this isn’t about money, this about proving a point,” said Robert Brown’s attorney, John Eleftrekais.

“Police officers ran up to him, arrested him, and then kept him in a jail cell in Macy’s,” his attorney, John Elefterakis told the Post. After handing over his ID, Brown “was told that his identification was false and that he could not afford to make such an expensive purchase,” according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.

Over 3,400 people have signed a petition calling on the rap superstar Jay Z to drop a lucrative partnership with Barneys over the alleged racial profiling incidents. Sign your name and send a message to Barney's and other luxury stores that you do not tolerate blatant racial prejudice and discrimination. Stores don't mind taking minority people's money, but will have the police to harass them once they leave the building. America is a free country, and people have a right to shop wherever they please. The phenomenon of shopping while black is criminal and should cease!