Henson took to Instagram to draw attention to what he called “one of the most degrading” incidents he has experienced.
Henson, who is black, alleged the discrimination occurred Monday when luxury jeweler Schwanke-Kasten in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, turned him away from entering the store. Henson said two Whitefish Bay police officers then approached and asked him what he was doing, why he wanted to go into the store and how he came to be in possession of the vehicle he was driving.
“They [Schwanke-Kasten] locked the door and told me to go away,” Henson said in the Instagram post. “After I rang the doorbell twice, everyone went to the back. No [one] answered the door or told me what was going on.”
Henson said he told the police he was “just trying to look at a watch,” and he was allowed entry only when it became clear to the police that he presented no threat to the employees and “it was safe.”
He wrote he “wouldn’t wish this on anyone. This store needs to be called out, and that’s what I’m doing. You have no right to profile someone because of their race and nationality and this incident needs to be brought to light.”
The store owner, Thomas Dixon, told Whitefish Bay Now the employees denied Henson entry in response to an alert they received from the Whitefish Bay police and the incident was a misunderstanding over Henson’s vehicle. Police had asked employees to be on the lookout for certain types of cars, Dixon said.