Black teen went viral after sharing videos of employees following him around stores

Rashid Polo was a young Vine user who shared a couple of videos showing how people from stores used to follow him around shops. He became an Internet sensation.

When Vine was in its heyday, most people used it to share funny short clips. However, Rashid took his time to address a different aspect of life: racism. A couple of videos that he uploaded portrayed employees of some stores following him.

One of the recordings portrayed him shopping in a store wearing a jacket and a beanie while recording himself and a white lady, who worked in that establishment, following him around the shop.

At the end of the six-second video, Rashid said, “she thinks I’m stealing!” when the woman was looking for him. When the lady saw he was recording her, she quickly went back to where she had come from.

“ORGANIZING” THINGS

The second clip portrayed Rashid wearing a striped blue and white shirt recoding himself and an employee behind him who was apparently organizing the items on the shelves.

That woman coincidentally had to order the items that were in the same halls that Rashid was, so he knew that she was just following him to make sure he didn’t steal anything.

TAKING THINGS LIGHTLY

By the end of the clip, the young man was explaining that the employee had been following him, and she stepped in the camera frame at that moment, so he said, “there she goes! She thinks I’m stealing!” the employee quickly turned around and left.

In an interview Rashid had with the Hollywood Reporter, he pointed out that while he hoped it didn’t happen again because it was annoying and a “touchy” subject with many people, he would keep recording it if someone followed him.

AVOIDING TROUBLES

He added that he was not getting in the stores looking for trouble and that if he began recording them was because they were following him, and not the other way around.

CELEBRITIES FACING SIMILAR SITUATIONS

Huffington Post revealed that Rashid is not the only black male who has been chased inside stores as Barack Obama shared similar stories of employees following him through department stores.

They added that a Swiss clerk several years ago refused to show Oprah Winfrey a handbag because it would “cost too much.” The clerk probably didn’t know who Oprah was.

AN ANGRY REACTION

Thankfully, Rashid was a calm man who took things lightly because some people, like this woman from East Patchogue, would have reacted in a completely different way.

Once the lady learned the price of the cups of coffee she tried to buy ($1,69), she considered it was too expensive, so she poured them on the counter. Her action caused a $200 worth of damages from drenched cigarettes.