A woman on TikTok went viral for claiming that white girls do the most shoplifting. Her manager said, “Black kids are the ones that steal the most.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bella (@hellaxbella) has received over 989,000 views on her TikTok. The video sparked viewers in the comments section to share experiences with white women shoplifting in their personal lives or at their retail jobs.
@hellaxbella #stitch with @Lyss Lyss ♬ original sound – bella
In the clip, Bella explains that her manager called a team meeting at her former retail job in Virginia Beach. “Keep in mind, during this meeting, the owner is there, and she is a Black woman,” she says. “It’s relevant.”
Bella says her manager made the statement, “I don’t mean to be racist,” to which Bella tells viewers, “It’s about to be racist.”
Her manager says, “I’ve noticed that Black kids are the ones that steal the most.”
Bella immediately interjects and says she has never seen a Black person steal. “I have only seen white girls steal something,” she adds. She asks her manager if she has ever seen a Black person steal before, and her manager responds, “Well, not in person.”
A viewer commented on Bella’s video, saying, “this is why I stopped going to Ulta. At one point I was going weekly and they had someone following me everytime.”
Another viewer commented, “Retail will follow me, a black woman, while white women openly steal with nobody to stop them.”
Bella told The Daily Dot that while she worked at Ulta, her manager “ordered our staff to follow around two black girls in an expensive part of the store because they suspected they were stealing,” she says, “when in reality they were just wealthy women and paid for everything in their cart.”
“White women tend to use their privilege to take items because they are not followed around stores,” she adds.
A statistic from The Guardian says that more than 90% of Black Americans report being racially profiled while shopping. This phenomenon is sometimes known as “shopping while Black.”
The Daily Dot contacted Bella via TikTok direct message and Ulta via email.
