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A shop on downtown Savannah's Broughton Street was hit with backlash from Georgians after announcing that they were waiving an "appointment fee" for black/indigenous/people of color on Sunday, July 9th.
Civvies, the shop in question, made a now-deleted Facebook post that stated they would be requiring appointments to come down and shop, but that BIPOC would be exempt from that fee.
This is Civvies on Broughton today. https://t.co/A6P8rr6A09— GAGirl1967 Flatten The Fear! (@GAGirl1967 Flatten The Fear!)1597102388.0
i- have no words. NO WORDS. CANCEL Civvies. https://t.co/KW0Gd2eYLV— Emily Amman (@Emily Amman)1597006895.0
"As a mostly White staff with White ownership, we do not feel comfortable upholding a digital and financial barrier which could prevent BIPOC from shopping at our store at this time on top of the limitations already made by online booking," they included with the announcement.
Immediately, backlash showed up from folks claiming it was "racist."
My ONLY issue with this is white people can (and are!!) poor, too!! If we’re being completely honest, Civvies has b… https://t.co/bORVM6Puxm— mary carroll hatch (@mary carroll hatch)1597010834.0
I’ve never been in Civvies and now I’m for sure never going in there.— GAGirl1967 Flatten The Fear! (@GAGirl1967 Flatten The Fear!)1597102409.0
@emilyamman I’m going to add one more thing and leave it at that! https://t.co/uSMD8DoLrl— mary carroll hatch (@mary carroll hatch)1597012465.0
@emilyamman Never spend a dime in this racist place ever again!!!— Drew (@Drew)1597190274.0
@marycarrollh Thank you 👏🏼— Emily Amman (@Emily Amman)1597010968.0
Eventually, Civvies deleted their Facebook post at the request of their owners.
Meanwhile, on Facebook, the backlash kept coming.
According to the store's manager, folks filed complaints with the Department of Labor as racist discrimination in Georgia because the policy "favors Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color."
"Obviously it is unfortunate to have thousands of people commenting and messaging us saying that they are going to sue us and have contacted the Department of Labor because this is a violation of their rights. We believe that what we are doing is within the confines of the law."
As racism is a systemic problem that sets up a system in which White people benefit, calling this policy "racist" is inaccurate.
The store has made no further comment on the backlash at this time.