- 25 June 2012
- 1 Comments
- discrimination
Sahar Sabet, the 19-year old Iranian American teenager at the center of the Apples discrimination controversy, issued a statement through her attorney today to “correct erroneous media and organizational reports” that were claiming Apple did not discriminate against her because they were just following the law.
The evidence suggests that, yes, she was in fact discriminated against and that, yes, broad sanctions encouraged sanctions vigilantism and profiling by retail employees:
“On the date in question, Sabet’s family had relatives visiting from Houston, Texas. Ms. Sabet decided to take her uncle, aunt, and grandmother with her to the mall that afternoon. Sabet received assistance from two different Apple employees while finalizing her decision on which specific iPad model to select. Ultimately, she selected an iPad and was preparing to make her purchase. It was at this time that Sabet’s uncle, a native Farsi speaker, had a question regarding an iPhone that he was considering purchasing for his daughter in Tehran, Iran. Sabet, a United States citizen and native English speaker, served as a translator. After asking her uncle’s question to one of the Apple employees that had been assisting her, she translated the answer into Farsi for her uncle’s benefit.
“Then, as Sabet attempted to complete her purchase, another Apple employee, previously unknown to Sabet, approached her and rudely demanded to know what language Sabet and her uncle were speaking. When Sabet replied that they were speaking Farsi, the Apple employee, with no other basis, denied Sabet the sale and stated that “our countries do not have good relations with each other.” Sabet’s attempts to escalate the situation to the store’s management were fruitless as the manager on duty simply sided with the employee’s decision to refuse Sabet the sale on account of her ethnicity and national origin.”
The full statement via Sahar’s attorney is below.