Women, Asian-Americans protest alleged harassment at H&M store 

By Miriam Cintrón 

The unusually hot and humid weather on an early morning last month did not stop a large crowd from gathering in protest on Michigan Ave. They carried signs that read, “H&M tolerates racism” and “H&M Chicago degrades women.” They marched in a circle and chanted, “What do we want? Justice!” as they passed out fliers describing the events of late September when a Filipino American nurse alleged she was racially and sexually discriminated against by a department store employee.

Frannie Richards, 33, a Tri-Taylor resident, said when she walked into the H&M clothing store at 840 N. Michigan Ave. an employee began making derogatory comments about her, calling her a “mail-order bride” and laughing with another employee. An astonished Richards then asked to try on clothes and the employee asked if she knew English as he pointed to the fitting rooms. As she walked away, Richards allegedly heard him mockingly say “Ching ching chong” under his breath.

“I’m not naïve about racism,” Richards said, "but for an employee to say such inappropriate things" and laugh at her within her hearing "was surprising."

“For someone to say something like that unprovoked is pretty ridiculous,” Richards’s sister, Tracy Los Banes, said at the protest.

At the time of the incident Richards immediately spoke with a manager, who told her the employee would get a verbal warning. Upset over what happened, Richards returned to the store a few hours later to find out the employee’s name only to discover he was still working and apparently had not received a verbal warning.

Another effort to report the employee to a different manager proved unsuccessful. Richards said that, like the first manager she spoke to, the second did not seem to understand the significance of the employee’s comments. The second manager told her there was no way for her to file a formal complaint and reiterated the employee would receive a verbal warning. He also gave her information for contacting H&M’s general manager.

In the days after the incident, a representative from H&M’s corporate headquarters contacted Richards, but she has not heard from them since.

“It was a very disparaging, terrible thing that happened,” Richards said of the incident. “I would never treat anyone like that.”

Unable to forget what she described as a humiliating experience and dissatisfied that the employee was not disciplined, Richards turned to the Asian American Institute (AAI) to help her inform the public of how she had been treated. AAI Legal Director Myron Quon has since filed a discrimination complaint with the Chicago Commission on Human Relations on Richards’s behalf.

The commission assigned an investigator who is researching the case. Quon said they are asking for reasonable compensation for emotional distress, coverage of legal expenses, and diversity training for H&M staff. Quon said they also want to see the employee terminated from his job.

According to a statement released by the company, “H&M prides itself in its diverse culture and its anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies…H&M does not tolerate harassment, discrimination and/or violence of any type.” The company has not commented further, pending an investigation.

Quon said cases of harassment based on race are not uncommon among members of the Asian American community, but many people “are not brave enough to cause a stink” by filing a formal complaint as Richards has.

Since the drowning death of Du Doan, the 62-year-old Vietnamese fisherman who was pushed into Lake Michigan in September, many have called AAI with stories of being treated as second-class citizens. Few are willing to see the process through, however, and fewer still are willing to testify in court should their case come to that point. “People need to be willing to be a public face,” Quon said.

He mentioned the widely held belief that Asian Americans are super-achievers who integrate into American society quickly and do not experience discrimination. Quon hopes Richards’s case will facilitate a better understanding of Chicago’s large Asian American community and its diversity. Richards noted that community should not have to feel scared or intimidated to go to public places.

Nerissa Allegreti of the Fellowship for Filipino Migrants and the National Alliance of Filipino Americans Association, which were represented at the protest, said having Richards make this “blatant and obvious injustice” public should serve as a reminder that the U.S. is a “land of immigrants.”