Racial discrimination case against Allsup's moves forward

Just over a year ago, Jordan McDowell took a cellphone video that he said turned his life upside down.

"It opened my eyes to what society I live in," McDowell said in a phone interview. "I don't want to say it showed me the worst in people, but it showed me the worst in what a person could see."

The state Human Rights Bureau, an investigative agency that shares the federal right to enforce civil rights protections, ruled last week there was probable cause McDowell was discriminated against because of his race during an incident at a Santa Fe Allsup's in August 2018. The New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union filed the complaint on McDowell's behalf.

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McDowell said the ACLU and Allsup's currently are discussing the possibility of mediation, but a hearing is scheduled before the Human Rights Commission on Dec. 6 if negotiations fall through. The commission, an arm of the state Department of Workforce Solutions, can issue an order to require training or award damages based on the evidence presented at the hearing.

Officials at Allsup's corporate office in Clovis did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

McDowell, a senior at Xavier University of Louisiana majoring in pre med, said he was shopping at the store when a store clerk told him he was "looking sketchy" because he was picking up merchandise and then placing it back on the shelves.

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He took a video on his cellphone, which shows an Allsup's employee on the phone, saying, "I want him out of the store right now." After a pause, she continues: "Because he's being arrogant. Because he's black."

"Oh, so I'm arrogant because I'm black," McDowell says in the video.

McDowell's video caught the attention of national news media ranging from Newsweek to the online HuffPost.

At the time, Santa Fe Police spokesman Greg Gurulé said that while police had been called, the sergeant on duty did not send out an officer because it did not meet the standards for response.

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Officer Joshua McDermott happened to be driving by the Allsup's after responding to a call nearby about an alarm, Gurulé said, and was flagged down by McDowell. Video from McDermott's body camera shows the officer in his patrol vehicle in the store's parking lot, speaking with McDowell, who says he was in Santa Fe for a class exploring the pueblos of New Mexico.

According to the filing, the employee, Manuela Esther Ramirez, was suspended after a district manager listened to the 911 call.

McDowell, 23, said after the incident that he felt withdrawn and feared similar incidents would keep happening. He said that when he was growing up in Houston, racism was "nuanced" — describing a dirty look here, or someone crossing the street to avoid walking past him, but his experience in Santa Fe was unique.

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He said talks with Xavier alums who live in New Mexico and support from his mother, a pastor, inspired him to speak up and file a claim.

"In that split-second, I wanted so much justice, I wanted the person who did it to be fired, I wanted the people involved to take a racial awareness class," he said.

McDowell said he wants others in similar situations to know they are not alone, and that he will continue pursing the claim.

"When you're fighting for human rights, when you're fighting for freedom, when you're fighting for what's right, nothing should ever stop and stand in the way of that," McDowell said.