Mijn Klacht:

I recently saw online that Kruidvat had started selling african hair products. To my delight and excitement I was quickly went to one of its stores and to my surprise all the black hair products were locked in some box. I thought to myself ok ,maybe it is just this store they are starting. i bought my products and was gone. Today i went to another Kruidvat store and to my surprise the products were again locked up in a plastic glass container. I stood there in front of the products for a very long time asking myself but why, i picked one of the boxes so that i could read the product and had to shake the product around to read the ingredients. What surprised me is that all the other products were out in the open and to make it worse some of the products out of the casing were even more expensive than these products i was looking at. I was really really shocked.
So, i went to look for a shop assistant and i asked her that i wanted to buy two of the products and asked if she could remove them which she refused and said i had to get that done at the counter. so, i asked why are these the only products caged up and she said its because this is an anti-theft protection, people steal these. So, asked but only people of colour use these products and she just shrugged and went away.

Humiliatingly, I carried these two containers of hair products to the counter. Inside feeling like crap and humiliated that i am carrying these products like this because there is a fear that i could steal them. I have never stolen from a store before.
The woman behind me asked what i was carrying and why the products were in that thing or if they came together with the casing and I said ”no”, it is because they are scared that ‘we, mostly ‘i’ will steal. She too shrugged and awkwardly smiled and looked away.

My heart really dropped and I have never felt so discriminated against. In my heart I asked maybe i should ask for proof that these are the products most stolen in this particular store. Was this a precaution for just incase or they had the statistics to show that this product gets stolen alot.
To make matters worse, the area is a predominantly while area so i wondered where were these people coming from that were stealing and is it every kruidvat store that has thefts that they need to do this.

The idea that these are the only products being stollen just dumbfounds me. I hate this policy and it is very discriminatory. Yes, I understand that we are coming into a context that is predominantly white and we are an afterthought that is why i was so happy when the giant kruidvat thought about ‘us’ people of colour. But to have this, is wrong on every level.

Gewenste Oplossing:

I would like to see proof that these are the products that are stolen, why are not other products caged as well.

I think as a person of colour i want an apology, the level of humiliation was just too much for me to bear emotionally.

They must remove this policy that discriminates only people of colour.