Texas Man Wrongfully Accused of Shoplifting Wants Walmart to Give Him $100M or Unlimited Free Shopping for the Rest of His Life

A Texas man said he was accused of shoplifting in a Nebraska Walmart by the store’s employees in 2021.

He has now personally filed multiple federal complaints against the Fortune 500 company, asking for either $100 million in damages or unlimited shopping for the rest of his life at any location.

He claims the workers at the retail giant violated his civil rights because he was Black, detailing the March 2021 ordeal in two handwritten complaints to the United States District Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Texas Man Wrongful Accused of Shoplifting Wants Walmart to Give Him $100M or Unlimited Free Shopping for the Rest of His Life
Miami, Hialeah Gardens, Florida, Walmart Supercenter, customer in toy aisle. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Roderick Jackson of Waskom, Texas, filed one complaint on Monday, Jan. 8, that asserts that while he was shopping in one of its Omaha locations in 2021, he was stopped under the “false pretense of shoplifting.”

Jackson is suing for Civil Rights “violations based on race/color.”

In addition to the damages or the shoplifting allegation, Jackson asked Walmart to pay any court fees associated with his case and for a “reversal of all document and allegations.”

This was not the first time that Jackson filed a lawsuit against the corporation. Walmart claims he’s sued previously over the same alleged incident.

“Mr. Jackson’s allegations are almost identical to a lawsuit he filed against our company in 2021 that was dismissed,” a spokesperson for the company wrote in a statement, according to NBC News.

Roughly three years ago, Jackson claimed that he was a victim of racial profiling and false accusations that resulted in his arrest. 

He told the court that he suffered emotional stress and pain from the handcuffs being placed on him when he was being arrested, and like the recent lawsuit, Jackson initially sought $100 million and “a huge credit for future shopping” but later revised the complaint to request $175 million in damages.

Court documents show his case was dismissed shortly after filing due to failure to properly serve Walmart.

Walmart maintains as a company it does not “tolerate discrimination of any kind.”

“We intend to defend the company against the allegations once we have been properly served,” the company said. “And will quickly ask the court to dismiss any claims that are without merit.”

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top