Wal-Mart Launches Investigation After Announcement at Gloucester County, N.J. Stores Said "All Black People Leave the Store Now"

More public relations drama for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Patricia Covington and Shelia Ellington, two black women from Monroe, N.J., are boycotting the discount retailer as police launch in investigation into a public announcement that targeted black shoppers at the Turnersville store over the weekend.

According to the Courier-Post, Wal-Mart officials said they're reviewing security tapes to find out who asked "all black people" to leave the store in a message over the public-address system shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday.

Washington Township police, with the assistance of the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office, are investigating the episode as a possible bias crime, said Bernie Weisenfeld, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

Ashley Hardie, a corporate spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, described the incident at the Route 42 store as "unacceptable to us and to our customers. We are currently reviewing our systems to prevent this from happening in the future," she said.

If these allegations are true, then it seems that we are still stuck in the Jim Crow days. I would like to think we have grown as a people and this racist behavior is a thing of the past.

UPDATE#1: Police have arrested a teen in connection with this obviously racist act. He has been released to his parents.