POINT PLEASANT BEACH – The girls who were told they “were not welcome” at a Jenkinson’s boardwalk shop earlier this month have been officially welcomed back by township officials and store owners recently.
Jersey Shore Online reported earlier this month that a group of African American girls were told to leave the Jenkinson’s shop by an employee. The incident was captured on video by Attiyya Barrett, director of the Princess to Queenz outreach group. The video showed the group of girls being asked to leave because they didn’t have a chaperone; when they returned with a chaperone, the employee told them they’re “not welcome here.”
After an internal investigation into the matter, the employee in the video was fired.
Several weeks following this incident, Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Stephen Reid the owners of Jenkinson’s received the group of girls back for warm welcome and day of fun at the beach. The girls were bussed to the boardwalk courtesy of Jenkinson’s.
In a press release, Jenkinson’s stated: “In our 90-year history, Jenkinson’s has always been and will continue to be the place where people from all races, religions, ages, genders, and cultures are welcome. We are committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving our culture of diversity and inclusion. Jenkinson’s will also be conducting a diversity training program for its employees in the very near future to avoid this type of occurrence in the future.”
