T H.
Yelp
The most unfortunate part of the closure of the Pearl art store on Canal Street? You now have very limited choices of where to purchase art supplies. Now, Blick doesn't get low marks from me because of its selection, because it has a wide variety of products and services that are top notch. Blick gets low marks from me because my experiences shopping there are always complicated by being racially profiled whenever I shop there.
Today is January 16th, and the nation is celebrating MLK Day. So ironic that today is the day that I decided that I have had enough of being racially profiled and followed around whenever I shop at Blick. Whenever I need art supplies, I dread going to these stores, because like clockwork, I am always followed around by a short, stocky Latino/Hispanic loss prevention associate. It never fails. I often shop there with my mother, who is heavily into arts and crafts, however I dread going there with her because I know that I will be followed around, an object of suspicion. At both stores...the one on 23rd street, and the one on 6th ave...I get profiled. I had decided to skip the store on 6th ave, because I didn't feel like getting followed around, so I walked a few more blocks to the 23rd street store, and lo and behold, that same loss prevention associate was now at this store, and he commenced following and shadowing me as I shopped for a small tube of purple paint to pain the hair on a Psylocke X-Men action figure I had made. Any joy I had felt at finding the color quickly turned into dread.
Even something as simple and innocuous as picking up a small tube of purple paint is made complicated by racial profiling, and the tightness I feel in the pit of my stomach when I look over my shoulder, and find the loss prevention guy (who was standing by the door dutifully until I walked in) standing behind me or walking near me, pretending to arrange the shelves. It is very intimidating, but more than that, it is very disheartening because the suspicion of Black people is something that is causing quite a lot of upheaval in our country these days. The idea that if you are a Black person, you are automatically prone to criminality, is an idea that at best, has lead to a lot of uncomfortable experiences for the victims, and at worst has caused many young Black men (and women) to lose their lives. That suspicion causes people to react in wholly negative ways against you, and may even cause them to suspend their better judgement and hastily make a decision that could cost you your sense of well being, or your life.
It is the everyday dehumanization that makes even something as mundane as shopping for art supplies, very uncomfortable. Not only was I followed by the short, stocky Latino loss prevention guy, but he also apparently called the front register to warn them about me, which I could actually hear. Why do I mention the ethnicity of this individual, because I want to point out that anti-Blackness, hatred, bigotry, and violence against Black people is not something that only White people do. In fact, much of the profiling I experience while shopping is perpetrated by other people of color (I hate that term, because I believe everyone has color, even if that color is peach or butter creme).
And don't get me wrong, I have had some great experiences at the Blick store...from the sales associates. They are always helpful and knowledgeable. It's just the dehumanization I feel when I am ALWAYS followed by that loss prevention dude that makes me leave the store feeling rather dejected, like a balloon when the air slowly leaks out of it. A fun day out with my mother turns into a somber, and sobering experience and silent train ride home. I often wonder what it would be like to be able to move about in society and not have to feel this way. I look at strangers and wonder what it's like to be able to simply be, and simply shop, and do the things that everyone else does. I doubt I will ever know that feeling...
One thing I do know, is that I will never again set foot in a Blick art supply store. Sadly, I am at my limit for being followed and essentially dehumanized. I will simply have to rely on Amazon, or another online service to get my supplies. The closing of the Pearl store on Canal street was very devastating for me, mostly because I have had to rely on the Blick store to get my art supplies. But no more.