Another CU Racial Controversy Storms Social Media

A member of North Carolina’s largest credit union said she was very offended to see on an employee’s desk a black figurine that appears to have no arms, and around its neck, a steel shackle attached to a dangling broken chain.

However, the figurine apparently depicts a character from “The Walking Dead,” a television series about a post-apocalypse world overrun by zombies.

But Stacey Smith, a member of the $38 billion State Employees’ Credit Union in Raleigh, N.C., did not see it that way.

She expressed her objections with the branch manager on Tuesday and in a Facebook post, which drew more than 4,500 comments and more than 8,200 shares as of Friday at noon Eastern Time.

“So I’m just leaving the credit union on Louisburg Rd. in Raleigh N.C. While sitting in one of their representative’s office handling business, I notice half way through my transactions a black doll with a noose around its neck and hands tied behind its back,” Smith wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday. “After everything was done the representative asked me if I had any questions and I told him yes, I do. I asked him what did that doll mean with the noose around the neck and he says to me, ‘I collect them.’ I said, well that doll is very offensive to me and he says, ‘In what way?’ Right then I walked out of his office and went straight to the receptionist and asked for his boss.”

When reached by CU Times Friday, SECU said it handled the matter internally.

“State Employees’ Credit Union prides itself on the fair and equitable treatment it provides its members, and takes its members’ privacy seriously,” SECU wrote in a statement it issued Wednesday to local media outlets. “Yesterday (Tuesday), the actions of one of our employees fell far short of our expectations and we took immediate steps to address this personnel matter.”

Smith posted photos of the controversial figurine, the desk nameplate of the SECU employee, Matt Anderson, and his Facebook posts about the incident. She also posted a photo of a Facebook conversation Anderson had with another person, which indicated that Anderson shared Smith’s name with that individual.

“I have been officially been accused of racism for my choice of a desk toy,” Matt Anderson, an SECU financial services representative, wrote. “Apparently, a story about a female character of color and overcoming adversity is offensive.”

Many people who reacted to Smith’s post about the incident seemed to agree with her, though a few took a more moderate stance and defended Anderson. Additionally, some people were concerned that Anderson shared a member’s name with another person in a Facebook conversation and accused him of violating Smith’s privacy.

“No matter what anyone says this is what we see when any man of color is bound in chains,” Emerald Horne wrote. “And even if it was from ‘Walking Dead’ … that collection of dolls is to be used at home for personal use, not for public display.”

“I work in the medical field and I have my own office. Out of professionalism and respect for others I make sure I don’t have anything that displays anything that can be misconstrued as something offensive!” Crystal Thomas wrote. “What’s the 1st thing you think of when you see this doll??????”

Others, however, took more moderate viewpoints or defended Anderson.

“At first I was offended as well but when I looked at the doll closer it is from ‘Walking Dead.’ I love the show,” Go Gadget Go wrote. “I HATE it has gotten to this point.”

Although Smith saw the figurine as a reference to slavery, Anderson apparently did not, Adam Thomas pointed out.

“Should this guy have maybe made the connection? Maybe,” Thomas wrote. “Do you also not take into consideration that he was raised to not even think about African Americans in that way? I know my boys are. What is this guy actually guilty of that warranted this whole mess??”

This is the third social media racial controversy that has involved credit union employees in the last two years.