Civil rights lawyers and retailers are watching what happens closely, because it is one of few such cases, and the most widely publicized one, to go to trial. Although the federal government took the lead in desegregation efforts in the 1960s, using federal public accommodations laws to desegregate lunch counters and other establishments, private lawyers now are trying to use those laws to seek damages. Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Justice Department can obtain injunctions ordering restaurants, hotels, theaters and gas stations to stop discriminating, but it has no authority over retailers, and it cannot levy fines or seek damages for consumers. Relman said that although black consumers once shrugged off instances of discrimination as a sad fact of American life, growing numbers are now choosing to fight in court. They need to change their ways.
Folks get away with doing to black folks whatever they want, and it's time for it to stop.
Somebody has to hold them accountable. He noted that the amount of the gift certificate was unusually large and said the company trains its employees to treat all customers equally. Deborah Lilly, director of fair employment for Giant Food, said Watson's account of his Feb. 10 run-in with security guards was inaccurate, but she declined to discuss details of the complaint. We're very sensitive to the markets we serve. Jackson, the federal worker who sued Foot Locker in 1992 after she said the store refused her check but accepted one from her white roommate, declined to discuss her case.