Last week, Kimberly Houzah, a 27-year-old nurse from Calhoun County, AL, was kicked out of a Victoria's Secret store at the Quintard Mall in Oxford, AL, seemingly due to her skin color. She posted Facebook Live video -- which has since been viewed over 1 million times -- of herself exiting the store and then venting about the incident, eventually breaking down into tears. Apparently a black woman had been caught shoplifting at the store, which caused the store manager to tell Houzah and another woman, both African American, to leave the store. Houzah claims no explanation was offered.
Early on in Houzah's video, one can see the other black woman -- seemingly unrelated in the shoplifting accident -- being told to exit the premises. It looks like the mall's security had been called in order to assist in getting her out of the store.
“You don’t want to be that person that feels like everybody’s racist, and I don’t feel like everybody’s racist,” said Houzah, now out of the mall and still reacting to the incident in her car. "But we just happen to be three black people in Victoria’s Secret and we got to be together. She’s going to say you, you and you, get out. All y’all get out.”
It turns out that Houzah's efforts in exposing the troubling profiling she experienced last week has paid off. Victoria's Secret addressed the circumstances at the Quintard Mall in a statement posted on its Facebook page, in which it was revealed that "the store associate involved in this matter is no longer employed with the company." Victoria's Secret also claims to have reached out to Houzah directly to "express our sincere apology." "Victoria’s Secret is adamant that all customers regardless of race be treated with dignity and respect at all times," reads the statement.
Watch Houzah's Facebook live video below.