When Kimberly Houzah became upset because she believed she was kicked out of a Victoria’s Secret store in Oxford, Alabama because she is black, she streamed the aftermath of the incident on Facebook Live.
“I got kicked out of Victoria’s Secret just for being black… I am so upset right now,” Houzah says at one point in the video.
You can watch the video above. It’s been viewed hundreds of thousands of times and was featured on CNN. In a response posted on social media, the company said the sales associate no longer works for Victoria’s Secret at the Quintard Mall and stressed the company demands that all customers be treated the same, regardless of race.
In the Facebook Live video from Oxford, Alabama, Houzah becomes emotional as she says, “There was another black female in here who got caught stealing, so she asked me and another black female to leave.” She said the employee couldn’t tell her why she was kicked out.
“She didn’t check my bag. She didn’t accuse me of stealing, but because I’m black and another person was caught stealing…” She said she has spent a lot of money in the store. The Anniston Star newspaper says Houzah works as a traveling nurse.
She said she didn’t even walk into the store with the woman accused of stealing and didn’t know her.
The local NAACP helped lead a protest at the mall after the incident, with its chapter leader saying Houzah was treated like it’s the 1950s. The manager said she was sorry, according to the Anniston Star.
The incident had generated a great deal of social media reaction as the video went viral.