08/20/2024
Alright yall. So I had an experience the past week. Yall know that I sell at vendor events frequently. I sold last year with The Rexburg Market. With my husband and my girls were with me.
Anyway, we paid for two booths and set up a backdrop for fall photos and my side had crafts that I had made. May had a table that she “sold” little items like stickers, feathers, crayons, etc.
long story short, they singled out May-May and our booths as a disturbance to the rest of the vendors. When I brought up and corrected what they mentioned as a problem, they retracted their statement and said it was a general statement for all vendors and that we were not being singled out.
To me, with my experiences being black, this felt all too familiar. My booths weren’t acceptable. My children were a disturbance. My presence and children didn’t follow the rules.
When I mentioned it being a discrimination accident, they became defensive and “validated” my feelings. I have been on this earth for 30 years now. I know and understand when I am in the wrong or being dramatic. However, this involved my kids and them being singled out of the crowd when there were other people actually causing problems in which we dismissed and accepted as typical business challenges.
I commend them for trying to diffuse the situation but the damage is done. If it is as they claim, the. The communication should have been very clear and not targeted to my booths.
