YM
Yaz Marseille
3 days ago
First, I love MAC and have been shopping this brand for 20-plus years.
Second, I recently went to this location and it’s a chic space with good energy. Everyone who works there is stunning.
Third, I had an experience there that is (too) common for me as a highly melanated woman.
A beige-skinned, blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman with an accent (possibly European) approached me with kindness and proceeded to make conversation with me.
In doing so, she comfortably addresses me as “girl” with a “blaccent.” It is 2026 A.D. Again, it is 2026 A.D.
Under no circumstances should this be happening to me at a MAC store.
Unless I know you personally, you should refrain from using any variant of “girl,” “queen,” or “sis” with a stranger of my hue.
Rather than ask for my name, she proceeded to use a term/expression that is linked to chattel sl*very.
I don’t care if you’re an immigrant or a citizen.
I’m an immigrant and U.S. citizen who is fluent in three languages, which most people never assume about me. I know what not to say when conversing with a darker-skinned American I meet as a stranger.
Common sense is common sense. You know better. Do better. It's not hard to treat me as a human being with a unique identity.
But if it is hard, you need to ask yourself why you see me as a "different breed" of human, and thus possess an urge to interact with me differently, without even paying attention to how I speak.
(I speak the standard American dialect versus AAVE, because I'm not AA/BA. I'm a European who happens to be darker-skinned.)
I hope this store enrolls this lightly melanated employee (whether she was a manager or associate) in bias training, because it is sorely needed.