Circuit City boycott urged
By Sean Kelly
Thursday, October 18, 2001 - AURORA - A local coalition is calling for a boycott of Circuit City stores after three Muslim customers alleged they were racially profiled when an employee called police on them.
Supporters of the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace plan to picket Circuit City's Aurora store, 1450 S. Abilene St., at 3 p.m. Saturday to protest the Oct. 7 incident.
"This is a great country," said Ziyad Sarsour of Arapahoe County, one of the men questioned by police. "But when we start racial profiling, we start dividing this country, and we give terrorists a victory."
Circuit City officials said they have apologized to Sarsour.
"We do not condone racial profiling in any form," said Jennifer Mullen, a spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Richmond, Va. "Circuit City will certainly take steps to prevent something like this from happening in the future.
"It was one employee, and he no longer works at the store," Mullen said.
Sarsour, 49, said the incident occurred when he was shopping with his 14-year-old son and a blind friend for a computer hard drive. His friend asked an employee if Circuit City sold shortwave radios. The employee asked why, and the man said he would like to listen to the news, Sarsour said.
The employee said the store did not sell shortwave radios, according to Sarsour. The three then purchased the hard drive and attempted to leave, but were stopped by police.
Police asked them for identification and said an employee had reported suspicious men attempting to buy scanners to monitor police and air traffic.
After questioning, Sarsour, his son and the friend were allowed to leave.
"It was humiliating and embarrassing. My son is traumatized," said Sarsour, who became a U.S. citizen after leaving his Palestinian homeland 33 years ago.
"Everybody in the store, customers and employees, walked to the front and looked at us like we were thieves or something worse."
Members of the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace, formed a decade ago to protest the Persian Gulf War, understand the need for increased scrutiny and security, but a line was crossed, said organizer Deena Larsen.
"It's going overboard now and starting to be racial profiling. That's just not acceptable in America," she said.
The group is demanding a public apology and diversity education for Circuit City employees.
"They didn't just insult me as an individual," said Sarsour, a telecommunications technician. "Because of what's going on in the world, the whole Middle Eastern community was insulted."