TV personality and Aboriginal rights activist Shelley Ware speaks out after uncomfortable encounter at Angus and Coote

TV personality Shelley Ware has detailed an uncomfortable experience with her son at an Angus and Coote jewellery store.

Australian media personality Shelley Ware has slammed an Angus & Coote retailer, saying she felt she was racially profiled while shopping for jewellery with her son.

The Marngrook Footy Show star and proud Aboriginal rights activist claimed staff made her feel uncomfortable when she asked if her son could try on a necklace.

She also claimed staff spoke amongst each other as if she and her son were absent, discussing whether or not the stores picked up their faces on camera.

Ware detailed the incident in a lengthy Twitter thread, asking if others had received similar treatment from behind the counter while shopping at the major jewellery chain.

Speaking to news.com.au, Ware said it was fortunate her post reached as many as it did and reinforced the need to inform others on what some Australians experience on a daily basis.

Australian media personality Shelley Ware has accused a Victorian Angus & Coote retailer of “racially profiling” her while shopping for jewellery with her son. Picture: Eugene Hyland

She said her 15-year-old son wanted to buy something significant with his first pay cheque, but instead was subjected to what she described as “agitating” conduct from staff.

Staff members allegedly held onto the necklace “with two hands firmly on either end for her to look at” and refused to let Ware and her son hold it as “it was heavy”.

Before her son was allowed to loosely try on the item, staff requested security, but at this point Ware had reached the end of her patience and told the staff member they’d be shopping elsewhere.

“After this behaviour, I told her we wouldn’t buy from here after the way she made us feel,” she said.

She explained how darker skinned people are regularly followed in shops, revealing it has happened to her for years.

“It’s pretty standard for most of my life to be followed in shops, but this was next level. The most blatant I‘ve experienced in a long time,” she said.

Ware went straight to retailer Prouds, which is coincidentally operated by the same company as Angus and Coote, and had zero issues purchasing the exact same necklace.

“Thank you to the amazing woman at ‘Prouds’ who sold my son a beautiful necklace moments later. Let him try on two at once, to compare and let me feel the weight. You made a s**t experience wonderful!” she tweeted after the ordeal.

Ware said she has been contacted by countless others detailing similar experiences of being racially profiled since uploading her story online.

“This is an ongoing problem. Aboriginal people should be allowed to shop in peace without being profiled like this,” she said.

She said she was also contacted by Angus and Coote with an apology that explained how the chain had seen a recent increase in robberies and had informed staff to remain extra vigilant.

The proud Aboriginal rights activist claims staff held onto a necklace with two hands and refused to let her son hold it as it was “heavy”.

“I had a good talk with the Victorian manager of Angus and Cootes jewellers today,” she said.

“Snatch and grabs are on the increase and poor management of the situation we found ourselves in played a role. I had a sincere apology and they are working with the staff about a better way forward.”

Angus and Coote has been contacted for comment.

Ware has spent recent years campaigning for Aboriginal rights, following in the footsteps of her father, who was the first Aboriginal cadet to graduate as a South Australian police officer.

“I‘ve got a ridiculous resilience to racism, which I put down to years of experiencing it ... my dad was a fighter for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people‘s equality his whole life,” she said in 2020.

“He changed laws around land rights and mining, fought for the Maralinga clean-up and he photographed and documented our stories; he did amazing things.”