(AllHipHop News) Singer SZA had a scary and frustrating encounter while shopping for groceries when she was mistaken for a “rioter.”
The “All The Stars” singer was at the Palisades Center in New York when a white male reported her to store security, while another shopper insisted she leave a supermarket as she was trying to buy dog food.
“(A) random a** man tried to remove me from a plaza In palisades while attempting to buy dog food for fear I was a ‘rioter’,” SZA, real name Solana Imani Rowe, posted on Twitter. “Lol He asked the grocery employee if he was ‘okay’ after watching him speak w (with) me then told me 2 leave…
I’ve had the WEEIRDDESSST EXPERIENCES TODAY. 🥴 another random ass man tried to remove me from a plaza In palisades while attempting to buy dog food for fear I was a “rioter”. Lol He asked the grocery employee if he was “okay” after watching him speak w me then told me 2 leave👌🏾
— SZA (@sza) June 1, 2020
“I was in tears. couldn’t even jump up and down how I wanted cause I didn’t wanna look like a ‘rioter’ to the legion of cops across the street. Smh (shaking my head).
“And in that moment I realized I cared more about the white gaze than my own humanity… I was sad for me. I don’t wanna live like that no more. I wanna cry and yell if I need to… no guilt trip.”
SZA’s racial profiling drama came as activists across America take to the streets to support the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police officers last week.
Some of the protests have turned violent with gangs of looters using the demonstrations to vandalize and steal from stores.
This happened day before yesterday to my dear friend MINDING HIS BUSINESS in midtown Manhatten . In front of his own home . GUN BUTTED AND ATTACKED BY TWO WHITE MEN for NO REASON . I can’t begin to understand pic.twitter.com/LP3wQFdpNF
— SZA (@sza) June 1, 2020
