American Apparel and the racisim that follows

I am utterly disgusted with how unprofessional EVERY American Apparel retail store I visit is. Not only do they focus all of their attention on whether or not Im going to steal their products (because I am black), I am not given the same respect I see they give other races. This is an ongoing problem that I face EVERYTIME I enter an American Apparel retail store. People tell me "Jasmine stop shopping there then", in which I respond "Ill document every terrible experience I have, I'll even begin recording conversations between the sales associates and I, so something can be done." I normally don't take names because I would hate to get someone fired, but Ill do what I have to do. Ive taken the approach to online shopping through American Apparel but ultimately the sizes are normally off which results in wasting my time, (having to send a package back because it doesn't fit is a big waste of time).

The store I have the most problem in is the location at the Topanga Mall, and the one across from Fairfax high school. Let me give you a brief example of the unprofessionalism I face (this is only one offense, trust me I have more). When I walk in I am not greeted (mind you when I go to the mall I make myself look very presentable). Im searching for an item, someone comes to me "can I help you find anything?" I respond "No I dont need help, but I will need a dressing room to try on a few items once I am done shopping". They respond "I'll get a dressing room from you, but I'll need to review your items"... mind you I dont have any yet. But I do have a purse and MY JACKET from American Apparel because Ultimately this was my favorite store, and the associate keeps looking down at it, trying to look inside of it (my purse). (That's strike number one). She stops hounding me after I tell her I walked in with this jacket and I would like to continue shopping now, after she sees me seeing her looking inside my purse for their items, she leaves me alone. I start picking up a few items, I normally get 2 sizes of each item I want so I dont have to waste my time walking back to get another (another strike, they should get my items). That's when another assoicate walks to me and asks for my clothes so they can "put it in the dressing room"... Okay? is my response, I'm clearly not done shopping and you want to take my clothes to put them in a dressing room (my thoughts)... next strike, I had 6 items going into the dressing room, handed the associate 5 items after exiting the dressing room because I WAS PLANNING ON BUYING THE 6th item, which was in my other hand. Then they asked for the last item, and I said "if I handed you 5 items, and I walked in this dressing room with 6 what does that mean?" Ultimately they stopped with the assumptions and that day I ended up not spending any of my hard earned money at American Apparel because from the moment I walked in their I was being racially profiled.

I work retail on Saturdays and Sundays (busy days for the mall), and I understand that some people take things that dont belong to them. Some people remove sensors, some people return stolen items. But I am not one of those people. If we all assumed that everyone was a criminal we'd have loads of lawsuits on our hands because in retail those assumptions aren't taken lightly when false accusations are made. I am customer who deserves to be treated like anyone else. Your customer services sucks, and I believe that this is a problem. Every time I visit an American Apparel store I am racially profiled. I am disgusted. Something needs to be fixed.

Yours truly, an annoyed LOYAL customer