According to Eto, he had entered a West London Jewellery shop with his brother to buy a ÂŁ10,000 watch, but said the shop assistant looked at them suspiciously but reluctantly allowed them to view the watches. However when he gave his credit card to pay for the watch, the shop attendant came back saying it was declined.
Speaking to CNN he explained saying âI went to go buy a watch at a jewellers, not too far from my house. The watch I wanted to see was expensive. I asked the saleswoman - who was also black - âCould you show me that watch please?â First, I saw her turn to her co-workers like, âUh, what should I do?â Eventually, she let me see the watch. I looked at it and said, âOK, Iâll buy it.â I took out my credit card and when she went to go run it through the machine; she came back and said it was declinedâ.
He continued that he then asked the lady âWas it declined or did you not want it to be accepted?â then his brother who was also confused asked the lady what was going on and that was when the lady told them that some Nigerians had come into the store with fake credit cards.
âMy brother asked, âWhatâs going on?â And she said, âNothing, nothing.â But he said, âNo, because when I came in, I saw how all of you were looking at us ... My brother can afford this and the way youâre treating him shows that you think just because heâs black, he canât afford this watch. The woman then slipped up and said, âNo, itâs just that we had some Nigerians in the store the other day who came in with fake credit cardsâ.
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âI donât know if you can imagine the weight of what she said. If one of my own makes a mistake, they judge us all. I donât think sheâs a racist person, but she stereotyped all black people as âthose peopleâ, he lamented.