Press conference







Backlash over Macy’s corporate refusing to meet with former employee and to change policies after Racially Profiling Black and Hispanic Shoppers at Oakbrook store; Former employee continues campaign against Macy’s raising vigilance with hope that Macy’s will change their racist and prejudice policies towards Blacks and Hispanics

Company Used Numbers to Track Shoppers; Pressured Staff to Confront Them with quota

Press Conference Sunday, March 27th, 2022, at 11:45 AM Outside Department Store

WHO: Raul Montes, Jr., former Macy’s assets protection detective and community activist.

WHAT: Press Conference and protest with placards

WHEN: Sunday, March 27th, 2022, at 11:45 AM CT

WHERE: Macy’s Oakbrook Center (Outside). 1 Oakbrook Center Oakbrook, IL 60523

WHY: To highlight racial profiling of Black and Hispanic shoppers at the department

store

Oakbrook, IL- A few days before Christmas, a melee erupted with gunfire at Oakbrook Center in suburban Oakbrook creating pandemonium as holiday shoppers were ushered for cover and the mall was placed on lockdown. Four people were injured by gunfire including one of the combatants.

One month earlier, a mob stormed a high-end store at the mall and escaped with $120,000 in merchandise. The looting was a reminder of the turn of events that occurred in the Chicago area and across the nation in May 2020 shortly after George Floyd, a Minneapolis man, died after a white police officer planted his knee on Floyd’s throat for over nine minutes. One of the stores that received heavy damage during the social unrest was Macy’s on North Michigan Avenue. In January 2021, the Magnificent Mile store permanently closed.

To reduce losses due to theft, Macy’s launched new measures, including using radio-frequency identification technology. But Raul Montes, Jr., who was employed as an assets protection detective in Oakbrook to prevent theft, said store managers in Oakbrook went overboard by profiling Black and Hispanic shoppers. The pressure was so intense to track shoppers of color that he complained about the practice and that led to him separating from the company two months after he was hired.

On Sunday, March 27, 2022, at 11:45 AM, Montes,will be joined by a reverend and community activists, and will hold a press conference outside the Macy’s, which is located at 1 Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook. 60523. During the press event, Montes will revisit the Macy’s case and provide proof of the racial profiling with a additional video.of former employee’s having to go on the store roof to monitor cars and customers compromising the safety of assets protection workers. The initial video shows a bonafide black man shopping and did not steal and was followed by hundreds of surveillance cameras and followed into a fitting room. Subsequently, the store manager who refused to answer the calls of Mr. Raul Montes held a store meeting telling workers not to speak to media and called former employee “disgruntled former employee” defaming Mr. Montes. Mr. Raul Montes states I have talked to the Macy’s advisory resolution team and they have failed to listen to my concerns with out changing their racist and discriminatory policies towards Blacks and Hispanics. There have been thousands of dollars worth of fragrances stolen by internal theft that is not a priority but on the contrary it’s a priority to target blacks and Hispanic customers.

They have codes – 98 for Blacks and 97 for Hispanics,” said Montes, whose stopped working at Macy’s last week. “The minute a Black person walked into the store all eyes were on them. The store has over 100 cameras, and they even follow you to the dressing room.”

Montes, who lives in Chicago, said it is the hardest job he ever had. He was stationed with six others in a computer room monitoring cameras until he was dispatched to the floor of the store to confront shoppers.

“I could not last there any longer,” Montes said. “One day I got sick. When I walked into the store, I felt anxiety. I felt very uncomfortable working there. I was in a hostile environment.”

Montes said he reported the racial profiling to his senior managers, and they never addressed the situation.

“They said, ’Just do your job,’” he said.

He hopes public pressure when get them to change their training practices, which includes videos of actors stealing. Ironically, he said, 90 percent of the actors were African American.L

On Sunday morning, a reverend and community activists with stage a press conference in front of Macy’s department store in Oak Brook, IL to revisit the case of racial profiling against blacks and Hispanics. We will display placards to raise vigilance against the racist profiling and discrimination towards Blacks and Hispanics. We want to raise vigilance to have Macy’s change the existing policies that are horrific and disturbing.