Group calls for boycott of Circuit City after racial profiling
October 19, 2001
A coalition of peace activists has called for a boycott of the Circuit City electronics store chain after a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent said he was the victim of racial profiling there.
Circuit City apologized to the man, but the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace wants the company to make a public apology and give employees diversity training.
The group plans to picket Circuit City's Aurora store on Saturday.
Ziyad Sarsour said he, his son and a friend were questioned by police after shopping at a Circuit City store on Oct. 7 for a shortwave radio.
Sarsour said police told him a store employee had reported suspicious men trying to buy scanners to monitor police and air traffic.
``This is a great country, but when we start racial profiling, we start dividing this country, and we give terrorists a victory,'' Sarsour said.
Circuit City officials said they apologized to Sarsour and that the employee who called police no longer works at the store.
``We do not condone racial profiling in any form,'' spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen said from the company's headquarters in Richmond, Va. ``Circuit City will certainly take steps to prevent something like this from happening in the future.''