A Southern California Nike store manager, accused of racially profiling a black family over a $12 basketball, has now been fired, according to the family’s lawyer.
Attorney Stephen King said Nike fired the manager of the downtown Santa Monica sporting goods store after she followed his clients for blocks and accused them of stealing a basketball they had just purchased for their 18-month-old child, the Santa Monica Daily Press reports.
“Our only recourse is to go to court and see if Nike is willing to make a change,” King said, blaming the incident on employee policies, training and perhaps a racially biased company culture, according to the newspaper. “If not, we’ll take it to a jury trial and have our peers decide if Nike did the right thing … The ball is in their court.” Nike representatives said in a statement that the company takes the racial profiling accusations “very seriously,” KABC reported… The Sacramento Bee