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Respect and support for all

I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a teacher. I have been on this earth for nearly 65 years and have witnessed many amazing things such as the first man walking on the moon, the destruction of the Berlin Wall, and technology evolve from computers with green screens to ones today that can bring me up to the second reports from all around the world with pictures so clear and vibrant, I almost feel as if I am there. All these events are quite amazing and only a sampling of the wonderful things that have happened while I have been on this earth.

Today, however, I witnessed something that shocked me. I was going into Walmart in St. Cloud along with my daughter and 7 year old grandson. As we were walking in, I noticed a clerk checking a cart full of items against the receipt for a family. No big deal, I too have had my receipt checked there for items that were not in a bag. The difference was that it seemed as if the clerk was taking a little longer the check this family’s merchandise and there was a back up of 2 other customers waiting their turn.

The family the clerk was checking was a Somali family. The people waiting in line were not.

After the Somali family was allowed to go to their car, the 2 customers waiting behind them, both with items not in bags, were allowed to walk out of Walmart without having their items checked against their receipt. I made a remark about this to my daughter and she too had noticed it.

I work at STRIDE Academy, with a diverse population of students and employees. Every one gets the same respect and support, not matter if they have the same skin color as mine or not. They deserve that. Everyday I learn a little something from the students I work with and they give me so much. I wouldn’t trade what I do for anything.

It saddens me when I see something as what I witnessed at Walmart. We need to be fair in all we do and treat everyone the same. Policies are in existence to serve a purpose and I understand that. I only ask that those policies be enforced equally, no matter the color of someone’s skin, their beliefs, or their culture.