Abercrombie & Fitch Protest Update

So, we did it.

We received an apology from the CEO of the multi-billon dollar company A&F, Mike Jeffries. He apologized for his statements and said that Abercrombie is not a company that bullies or is discriminatory. Am I surprised? Very. Sincere apology? Not entirely. Did he do the right thing? Of course.

The thing is, Mike Jeffries made the logical decision to apologize before my protest outside the A&F headquarters on Monday. The protest was going to be covered by almost every news station. He knew that was the smart move for the media and the sake of his business.

In response to his apology, NEDA and I have cancelled the protest on Monday. I’m still going to the headquarters, but now it isn’t to protest. We’ll be meeting with the Abercrombie & Fitch executives and discuss a further plan. I don’t think I can discuss our plan until after the meeting Tuesday, but I believe it will be beneficial in a vast amount of ways.

Thanks to everyone who has helped in any way, shape or form.

Watch Fox news Monday morning at 6am-9am!

I’ll be on Fox news Monday morning along with a few other amazing people like filmmaker Darryl Roberts and Dr. Maria Rago! I’m on at 7:00am being interviewed. 

It all started when I saw statements the Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, made when asked why Abercrombie refuses to make clothes for plus sizes. Jeffries said, “A lot of people don’t belong (in our clothes), and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” Then he went on to say, “we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” 

Mike Jeffries is saying they don’t carry plus sizes because they don’t want “fat, uncool kids” wearing Abercrombie & Fitch. He is telling people who don’t fit Abercrombie’s standards that they are uncool and their bodies are wrong. This DISGUSTED me.

Also, to make things worse Abercrombie BURNS their extra clothes because they don’t want poor people wearing them. 

So I decided to do something about it with the help of Dr. Maria Rago. We organized a protest outside of Abercrombie at Water Tower Place in Chicago. (835 N Michigan Ave) It’s at 4:00 PM and anyone is welcome to come help us protest against Abercrombie’s body discrimination! Just show up and I’ve made signs for everyone and loads of flyers to hand out. We even talked to city officials and have a permit to be there.

But Friday night Fox news contacted us and said they were absolutely touched by what we’re doing and want to do 3 segments about us on all 3 morning shows, the most popular news’ show in the nation. So we’ll be on at each hour from 6am-9am talking about this issue.

I can’t turn my head and allow a major company to deliberately discriminate and make attacks on people. I’m not going to sit back and ignore the statements they’ve made, I decided to do something about it and it’s working. Because people are so much more than a number on the scale, the size of their pants, or how they look. And how do you think it affects the self-esteem of 67% of the population who can’t walk into that store and find clothes in their size?

If you’re living a life where you only base someone off their physical appearance and popularity, then I feel sorry for you. I really do. I’ve met some amazing people in my life and you know how I found out they were amazing? By getting to know them. By their character, personality, and who they are as a person.

You think one voice can’t make a difference? Give it a shot, see who listens, and be that one voice who speaks for millions.

See you tomorrow morning Fox news, thank you for this opportunity. I can’t wait to make our voice heard.

Late night story.

You know that kid in class who’s hated? Laughed at? You mention their name and automatically negative words are spewed out of everyones mouth?

Well, everyone in my class makes fun of this one kid. They constantly joke about how he should just die already. They laugh and marvel over the idea that he’d be the kid that shoots up our school. It’s a quotidian event of him being laughed and yelled at by the other kids in my class.

So I decided to get to know this kid.

Like, genuinely know him.

Find out what kind of person he actually is. Find out why they hate him so much. Find out what he did to make them hate him. Find out why one person receives so much pain.

Fast forward to later and we’ve been talking for weeks now. I’ve gotten to know him really well. I’d say we’re substantially friends even.

He’s passionate, hilarious, clever, dedicated, and most surprisingly- extremely empathetic.

The constant bullying has clearly damaged him. There’s hidden pain in every word he says. The dull kind of pain. Present and hard to distract yourself from. The pain that would make suicide seem sensible to anyone.

But the thing was, he has no anger towards the kids that torture him. He told me he would never treat someone as poorly as he’s been treated in his life. In fact, he said he especially treats people he hardly knows with respect because you never know what situations a person has been dealing with in their own life.

In class I noticed a typical behavior of him. I saw that when the students mocked him, he’d shrug it off with a weary smile when he could easily start a fight or talk shit. He turned to me and said, “the only person who can truly judge, is yourself. The more you judge the less time there is to know somebody. And I want to know people.”

I know that kid everyone hates.

I know many things he has felt and thought.

I know him and he’s a wonderful person. 

I know that I could never hate him no matter how hard I try.

What I don’t know is why he’s so hated.

I’m a bit of a pacifist, but now I want to hurt the people who’ve never given up on making his life absolutely miserable.

But the kid told me it’s not worth hating them. Hate is worthless in the end after all. And they are the only ones who can truly judge themselves. 

I’ve been learning a lot about people lately and I’m still very confused as to why some can treat others so worthlessly. 

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