Supermarkets being charged with discrimination
A Whangarei man is claiming that he is ‘a modern day Jew’ after being discriminated against at their Countdown store and that similarly they were sent to concentration camps and denied food, as is he.
He has successfully shopped at the store for many weeks and shown both a mask exemption card and a yellow vest to identify himself. A few weeks ago the security guard seemed to take personal issue with him and after he had finished shopping followed him from the store and told him he was no longer welcome there.
Some stores including Countdown Whangarei are suggesting that it is the persons verbal or physical response to them breaching their human rights, that is causing them to ban them, yet accepting no responsibility for their own provocation on inciting such a response.
There seems to be no uniformity in shopping experiences between stores however – whilst a shopper was trespassed for two years from the Countdown Glenfield store and police called after she showed her mask exemption other people report they are able to use their mask exemptions at other Countdown stores without issue. Her exemption is on mental health grounds – the result of being bound and gagged along with her family and held at gunpoint by bandits whilst living overseas. To be gagged again results in panic attacks.
Last week similar behaviour was bought to the attention of Foodstuffs yet one store in South Auckland says Management continue to demand they discriminate.
As the governments own website states, people do not have to show a mask exemption but many people are doing so to ensure their access to food is not restricted by people who are not aware of the law around discrimination. Discrimination is illegal on any grounds – race, religion or disability (which is typically why people do not wear a mask)
Others claim the mask exemption card is essentially the 21st century version of the Star of David and refuse to wear it, as they are entitled to, although some members of the community are demanding they do.
A medically disabled person was bed-ridden for several days following a similar incident at Pak n Save Albany. The customer wasn’t even given the opportunity to show her mask exemption because she was chased from the store by security. North Shore local June Bartlett said of the situation “Her self-righteous attitude meant she was angling for a fight. This has nothing WHATSOEVER to do with discrimination…. All she had to do was show her exemption. But she preferred to play the victim. No sympathy with her.”
The Nazis demanded the Star of David, often yellow, was used by the Jews in the Holocaust.
After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, there initially were different local decrees forcing Jews to wear distinct signs.
In the General government, a white armband with a blue Star of David was used, in the Warthegau (Greater Poland and adjacent areas) a yellow badge, in the form of a Star of David, on the left breast and on the back identified a Jew.
Severe punishment was inflicted on Jews found in public not wearing a Star of David as seems to be happening with people choosing not to show mask exemptions.
By decree on September 1, 1941 any Jew, over the age of 6, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was required to wear the Star of David with the word Jude (German for Jew) emblazoned on their clothing, This decree was gradually introduced in other Nazi-occupied areas.
Others, however, wore the Star of David as a symbol of defiance against Nazi antisemitism, as in the case of United States Army private Hal Baumgarten, who wore a Star of David emblazoned on his back during the 1944 invasion of Normandy.
Still others wore the Star of David as a symbol of support. In boxing, Benny “the Ghetto Wizard” Leonard (who said he felt as though he was fighting for all Jews) fought with a Star of David embroidered on his trunks in the 1910s. World heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer fought with a Star of David on his trunks as well, notably, for the first time as he knocked out Nazi Germany hero Max Schmeling in 1933; Hitler never permitted Schmeling to fight a Jew again.
Medical exemption sympathisers are now following suit, and not wearing masks in support of the discrimination being shown to the disabled, some armed with a barrage of research that mask wearing does not protect the wearer or anyone else but actually causes harm as the person is limiting their oxygen supply and re-inhaling toxins and carbon dioxide back into the body and can cause Hypoxia.
People that have been discriminated against have been advised to lay a complaint with the Human Rights Commissioner and/or Privacy Commissioner and seek legal advice. To date it has been suggested that this discriminatory behaviour breaches:
The Bill of Rights 1990 section 19 freedom from discrimination
The Human Rights Act 1983 section 21 (h) disability and section 42 access to places, vehicles or facilities
The Privacy Act 1993 (especially so when people are asked to explain their medical issues publicly) and
The Crimes Act 1961 section 189a section 1a
Strangulation or suffocation
Everyone is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who intentionally or recklessly impedes another person’s normal breathing, blood circulation, or both, by doing (manually, or using any aid) all or any of the following:
(a) blocking that other person’s nose, mouth, or both:
Strangulation was a new offence bought under the Crimes Act on 3 December 2018.
It was bought in to criminalise behaviours and practices that are common but had not been able to be prosecuted as family violence.
Other sectors of the public are serving security guards, store owners and members of the public who are also judging them publicly with a notice to put a lien on their property for the stress and trauma they are causing with their discrimination. Similarly some people have done so in response to ‘hate speech’ on social media platforms against the disabled.
References
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/LMS138999.html
(Source)