Evanston Woman Claims Whole Foods Had Her Arrested Because She is Black

A Change.org petition urging Whole Foods Market and others to “Stop the racism!” has about 2,000 signatures. The petition was created on Aug. 12, one week after an African-American Evanston woman was arrested for retail theft after she says she inadvertently failed to pay  for a bottle of vitamins while she was making an $80 purchase from the Green Bay Road store.

“Last week as Ashley Usher-Coleman left Whole Foods Market on Green Bay Road with her $80 in groceries she was stopped by security for an unpaid bottle of vitamins,” according to the petition. “Rather than being redirected to pay for this missed item she was charged with a misdemeanor. This was after the security guard admitted to watching her and said it looked like an honest mistake. This was also after the security guard offered to let her go with a warning if she signed a paper stating she had shoplifted.”

View the petition here

After refusing to sign the paper, Usher-Coleman was placed in handcuffs. At that point, she requested to speak to an attorney and her husband. She was arrested on a misdemeanor charge at 8:10 p.m. on Aug. 5, according to an Evanston police report.

“Whole Foods should drop all charges against Ashley Usher-Coleman because she was targeted as a black woman and not treated appropriately by their security,” states the petition, which requests Whole Foods drop all charges and apologize to Usher-Coleman.

“If we are not going to tolerate racism any longer in our country then companies like Whole Foods need to actively participate by doing their part in treating all of their customers fairly.”

Usher-Coleman let the public in on her situation on her Facebook page on Aug. 14.

“The security guard admitted that it appeared to be one (an accident) and agreed to let me go with a warning. That is, if I agreed to sign a legal document stating that I was a shoplifter,” according to her account. “I said, I would need to call my husband. To this he got extremely confused and agitated. He wanted to know why, and inquired “are you a child?” After informing him that I would need to wait for my lawyer to call back before signing any legal documents he rendered me belligerent, uncooperative, and had me arrested. Not for the vitamins but because he didn’t “feel like” waiting for my attorney to call back.”

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Usher-Coleman says she knows others have made the mistake of not paying for one of their vitamins, and they were either told to just pay for the item or given a verbal warning without having to sign a paper.

“All of them were white,” Usher-Coleman wrote. “I know, I played the race card. I didn’t want to but I must since this security guard stated to the police that he had been watching me since I walked in the store. Really? Why? There is nothing spectacular about a women shopping for bread and vitamins. Nothing spectacular except my race.”

Usher-Coleman also claims the entire ordeal caused her to have a panic attack while she was in jail.

The Change.org petition - which had 1,984 supporters as of 4:40 p.m. on Monday - was created by Heidi Grace Bush, who also alerted Evanston Patch of the situation.

“This happened in Evanston and is a prime example of racism in our communities,” Bush wrote. “Many people have made this same mistake (myself included) and it never escalates to an arrest. The sad part is those of us that are allowed to correct the mistake often laugh it off with employees, who are white.”

Usher-Coleman stated as an update to the petition she has reached out to Whole Foods, but has yet to hear back from anyone.