October 26, 2001

Alan McCollough Chris Geith Marlon Fleenor

President & CEO, Circuit City District Manager, Circuit City District Manager, Circuit City

9950 Maryland Drive 9250 E. Sheridan Blvd 1450 S. Abilene

Richmond, VA 23233 Westmister, CO 80030 Aurora, CO 80012

Dear Mr. McCollough, Mr. Geith, and Mr. Fleenor

This letter is a follow-up response to the letter that we faxed to your headquarters last week on October 19, 2001. The Circuit City located on Abilene and Mississippi in Aurora, Colorado has been noted to exercise racial profiling on three customers that walked into the store on a Sunday October 5, 2001. As a further note, there have been three separate cases that cite this location engaged in racial profiling. These customers were ridiculed and felt harassed after walking out of this specific establishment. Racial profiling is wrong and should not be tolerated. No person should be treated with unfair suspicion, especially during such high tension nationally and internationally as a result of the crisis that is before us.

In last week’s letter, there were two proposals that were sent to the local and national Circuit City headquarters. These proposals were sent to your station(s) simply due to the fact that racial profiling from your establishment will not be tolerated. Furthermore, we respectfully request a resolution from your company as soon as possible.

Our two proposals are:

1. Provide a formal, public apology. This statement can be either in the Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News, but needs to be in an ad stating, at the very least, that Circuit City welcomes all shoppers and strongly condemns racial profiling against any of their customers. This ad should also address the incident and explain that measures have been taken to ensure that this will never happen at any Circuit City store.

2. Provide diversity training for your staff. This should be from a reputable trainer and should include a section on recent events and the dangers of racial profiling.

Once again, attached is the proposed agreement. It is important to note that if racial profiling begins, it is very difficult to stop. Circuit City should set the benchmark for other corporations to follow, and a bold statement that your corporation does not condone racism is the first step. Many have joined us in our effort to picket this local establishment, and we have posted a local and national boycott until this matter is peacefully resolved.

Sincerely,

Damon Haley & Reema Wahdan

Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace

720-203-0763 *  303-960-2197 or 720-956-07000

cc. Jeff Wills

October 19, 2001

Alan McCollough Marlon Fleenor

President & CEO, Circuit City Manager, Circuit City

9950 Maryland Drive 1450 S. Abilene

Richmond, VA 23233 Aurora, CO 80012

Dear Mr. McCollough & Mr. Fleenor,

As President, CEO and Manager of Circuit City, you have a responsibility to ensure that all customers are treated equally and with respect. You are, no doubt, aware of the incident on October 7th. To refresh your memory:

Ziyad Sarsour, his son, and friend went shopping at your store to buy a computer hard drive. Ziyad’s friend, a blind man, asked if the store sold short wave radios. After asking why they needed the radio, your employee told them they didn't sell short wave radios but referred them to a nearby Radio Shack. After they purchased the computer hard drive, they were confronted by four Aurora police officers. The officers demanded to see identification and said that someone from the store told the police that they were asking about scanners to monitor police and air traffic. They were humiliated and aggrieved; many in the store stared at them.

This is racial profiling at its worst. Everyone has the right to be treated without suspicion in a store.  Indeed, one of the greatest strengths of this country is the belief in innocence before proven guilty—not in assuming guilt from a racial characteristic. Racial profiling in your stores will simply not be tolerated. Therefore, we respectfully request a resolution. We want to ensure that these types of incidents never happen again in your or any other Circuit City store.

To this end, we ask you to:

1) Provide a formal, public apology. This can be in the Denver Post or Rocky Mountain News, but it needs to be an ad stating at the very least that Circuit City welcomes all shoppers and will never condemn a shopper for his or her race again. The ad apology should mention the incident and explain that measures have been taken to ensure that this will not happen in any Circuit City store.

2) Provide diversity training for your staff. This should be from a reputable trainer (We can provide people that can assist in the training) and should include a section on recent events and the dangers in racial profiling.

Please see the attached proposed agreement.

Once racial profiling begins, it is very difficult to stop. It is not just a matter of one unpleasant incident, it is a matter of our American way of life. If we allow some prejudice to creep in, then the door is opened to the evils of internment camps, Jim Crow laws, apartheid, and worse.

We will continue to picket and urge a local and nat’l boycott until this matter can be peacefully resolved.

Sincerely,

Damon Haley &  Reema Wahdan

Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace

720-203-0763

303-960-2197

CC: Local Denver Media

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