Nationwide — The homeowners of a Chick-fil-A in Augusta, Georgia, have apologized to the Clover Police Division after Sgt. Tracey Reid, an African American officer, reported experiencing racial discrimination whereas eating on the restaurant. He says he felt humiliated and embarrassed when he was the one one in his group who wasn’t supplied a complimentary meal. “It appeared prefer it was a racial situation to me,” Reid mentioned.
Based on Yahoo Information, Reid and three different Clover Police Division officers — three white and one Black — visited the Chick-fil-A for breakfast whereas on a piece journey. “We got here in collectively, identical uniform, stood in line, there was by no means a time we weren’t collectively,” he mentioned. The white officers had been every given free meals, a gesture generally prolonged to legislation enforcement. However when it was Reid’s flip, he was informed he needed to pay.
Detective Thomas Barnette, who witnessed the second, mentioned he was livid. “He mentioned he needed to pay for his meal, and it infuriated me,” Barnette mentioned. “He checked out his plate—unhappy and humiliated—and that made me actually mad.” Reid later wrote a letter to Chick-fil-A company urging the corporate to retrain its employees on the Augusta location and strengthen civil rights compliance insurance policies chain-wide.
The Augusta retailer’s preliminary response supplied two free meal playing cards, however each Reid and his colleagues rejected the reason. “It mentioned it was ‘perceived’ to be a racial incident,” Reid defined. “Nevertheless it wasn’t perceived. It truly occurred.” Barnette added, “All of us noticed it. It was a racial situation.”
In a press release to Channel 2 Motion Information, Chick-fil-A Augusta Proprietor-Operator Kenny Hanna mentioned, “We remorse the unintentional affect this incident had and sincerely apologize to our Visitor. We had been deeply involved by this declare. It seems to have been an sincere oversight throughout separate traces and registers. We’re strongly dedicated to supporting our group’s first responders.”
The corporate says the worker concerned was a crew chief who doesn’t usually work on the register, calling the incident a mistake. However for Sgt. Reid and his fellow officers, the affect of the expertise stays deeply private—and a reminder of why stronger accountability and coaching are wanted.
