Barbers Fight Racial Discrimination in Cosmetology
Photo of Kevon Gordon by Kurt Miller of the Press-Enterprise
Do state cosmetology boards have stringent enough rules and regulations to protect their licensed business owners from racial discrimination?
According to a recent story in the LA Times, several Moreno Valley, California barber shop owners, along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) settled a lawsuit charging that the predominantly African American businesses were the target of racial profiling by local law enforcement.
The barbers claimed police, accompanied by California state cosmetology board inspectors, raided their businesses without warrants and unjustifiable cause. One barber said the police questioned his clients about their criminal backgrounds. When another barber objected to a warrant check, he was handcuffed and held in a squad car for 10 minutes. In some cases, minor violations of cosmetology licenses were found, but nothing the barbers felt should have incited armed police raids on the businesses.
In an April 2008 press release by the ACLU, Kevon Gordon, a Moreno Valley barber who’s been in business for more than 20 years, said , “Officers treated my employees and customers like criminals simply because of the color of our skin. It was sickening.”
In the court documents, barbers claimed their reputations in the community had suffered, and business has declined as a result of these raids.
Police and state cosmetology board officials denied any wrong-doing or racial profiling, however the settlement has forced the California state board to “adopt stringent new rules against discrimination and limit joint inspections with local police.”
What do you think about the events that happened to the barbers in Moreno Valley? Do you think the police and inspectors were wrong to raid the barber shops? Do you think this was a case of racial discrimination?
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