By Ariele Vaccaro
Bucks player John Henson (right) speaks during the June 2015 announcement for the team’s new jerseys. Photo by Ariele Vaccaro.
Bucks center John Henson accepted an apology from the owner of a jewelry store where he said he was racially discriminated on Monday.
The player posted to Instagram Monday night, describing an incident during which he was locked out of Schwanke-Kasten, a Whitefish Bay jewelry store, then approached by police.
“This was one of the the most degrading and racially prejudice things I’ve ever experienced in life and wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” wrote Henson.
He said employees at Schwanke-Kasten locked the doors of the building, then walked into the back. Then, Henson said, two officers arrived and questioned him.
The post quickly went viral. That evening, Schwanke-Kasten owner Tom Dixon released a statement which said the incident came after a number of robberies at his stores. He’d ordered that the shop close down early after workers had been getting suspicious calls regarding the number of certain items in stock.
“There is no excuse for what he experienced today and I hope to see him again to personally apologize,” wrote Dixon.
He did meet with Henson on Tuesday at the Bucks practice facility in St. Francis.
Henson accepted the apology, but offered that what happened still wasn’t the right thing for the store to do.
“I met the owner this morning. He was sincere in his apology, and he kind of knew that should not have happened and it was kind of messed up both ways.
He has had prior incidents, and that still doesn’t make it right to do what they did,” 620 WMTJ cited Henson as saying in a Tuesday report.
According to the same report, Henson said he plan to raise awareness for the issue of racial discrimination in Milwaukee.
Protesters have been seen outside Schwanke-Kasten on Silver Spring Road, some wearing Bucks jerseys.