Black Sports Journalist Felt Profiled at Healdsburg Boutique

Top sports journalist and personality Marc Spears says he felt racially profiled for being Black on a recent visit to the ANTHEM home boutique on the Healdsburg plaza, at the corner of Center and Matheson streets. ANTHEM is a chain with five locations across the Bay Area. Spears posted about his experience on Instagram a few days ago, because he said he “didn’t want to let them off the hook” — and a bunch of media outlets across the country have since picked up the story. In the post, Spears starts out by saying that he loves Healdsburg and had a great time at many other businesses on a recent trip. “On this night, however,” he wrote, “while enjoying Healdsburg, my friends and I, all African-American, were racially profiled at a store in Healdsburg called @antheminteriors by the two employees.” He elaborated in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle: “I walked in, and I could just feel it. The store clerks basically stared at us, kind of frowning. Anybody that’s been racially profiled knows it when it’s happening. You just kind of feel like somebody’s peeking at you, watching what you’re doing as if they expect you to rob them.” Next, he wrote on Instagram, “I tried to give the lady that worked there the benefit of the doubt by asking if she knew where the nearest bathroom was. She suggested that I go to the [police station] across the street to use their facilities. Confused I asked her why would I go to the bathroom at a police station? Her response was that it will be OK they won’t arrest you.” The store’s owner, Janelle Loevner, has since apologized — saying she won’t tolerate racism from employees, and is “reconsidering advising people to use the police restroom.” (Marc Spears via Instagram & New York Post & San Francisco Chronicle; paywall)