Editor’s note: Got something on your mind? “Community Voices” is the place to let Milwaukee hear what you have to say. To be considered, we need your name, email address and phone number for verification. Please email your submissions to [email protected]. Portia Cobb, a professor at UWM and a filmmaker, writes about how a $6 purchase at what used to be one of her favorite east side eateries has led her to reassess how she navigates between segregated and privileged communities. How does a person who hasexperienced racial profiling or profiling of any kind articulate it to othersoutside of that experience? What will make them believe it actuallyhappened-even if they have never experienced it in the spaces they describe asinclusive, safe or liberal? In my own experience of beingprofiled at an east side eatery last spring, the reality of an isolated momentthat may have been interpreted as a slight has grown into enormousproportions because I talked about it. Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! I was recently called out onsocial media by one rogue sympathizer of the aforementioned establishment for“looking for a cause to hate white people” and for holding on to my own “pentup anger against whites.” This person posted that they could call me outbecause they themselves were Native American with drops of African ancestry.They felt I was out of line to presume that my single experience was based onrace at a place where black people held jobs. They felt I was trying to shutdown a perfectly good business over a $6 purchase. Here is a summary of myexperience: This all began last May whenI questioned a checkout procedure for me that didn’t apply to a woman ahead ofme in line who happened to be white and was purchasing similar items. I hadbeen a regular customer at this eatery for the nearly 28 years I’ve lived inMilwaukee. I am familiar that hot itemsrequire a separate process than other retail items. On that day, at the deli, Iordered a hot item, and as I presented the additional retail item, I rememberedthat I would need to pay for it separately at the main cash register. This wasnot the problem. The young person behind thedeli counter said I had the option to pay for both at the register (I had donethat before.). However, she then said, “Pay for both over there and return hereto me with this stamped chit” and gingerly handed me the chit. My food item wasalready packaged and in a bag. She said she would hold it for me behind thedeli counter to retrieve after I paid. I was confused and annoyed but followedthe protocol. The woman in front of me atthe general register placed her basket on the counter. Her basket contained amix of items from the retail part of the store and about 10 other hot fooditems that hadn’t yet been paid for. In my mind, an alarm sounded and afamiliar sixth sense of some kind. When I witnessed thattransaction, I realized that I was being treated differently. Did the deliserver think I would steal a burrito while the lady in front of me had walkedaround the store with her items and didn’t have to follow the same protocol? Ipushed that thought into the recesses of my mind but remained annoyed. I wantedanswers. I turned to see the deliserver observing me from behind the counter as I stood in line at the generalcheckout area with my chit. I racked my brain, as I didn’t remember thatprocedure being handled in that way in the past. I questioned the “I will hold your food item here for you until you return with the chit showing proof of purchase” part. After I had my chit stampedand returned for my burrito, the young woman behind the counter handed me mypurchase. When I questioned why the woman ahead of me didn’t have to follow thesame protocol, she offered that she didn’t know-but that she, herself, followedstore policy and couldn’t vouch for what others did or didn’t do. She thenbecame agitated and asked if I would like to speak with her manager. I said“sure.” She marched to the manager’soffice, and I moved toward the end of the deli counter to witness her gesturingtoward me (The office is visible through a window.). The manager stood and cameout to greet me. He began with, “I’m sorry if you feel that you wereprofiled.” I was speechless, as I hadn’t used this verb in my question to herabout the method of the transaction and hadn’t begun to frame a question forhim. So once again an alarm rang in my subconsciousness. Aha! That is what shewas doing! I explained that I hadwitnessed another customer ahead of me with similar items who didn’t have tofollow policy.