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According to NPR news, Walmart, the biggest retailer in the United States, was ordered by a jury in Oregon to pay $4.4 million to an African man who filed a discrimination lawsuit in 2020.

The African man was called Michael Mangum who was a counselor for youth in Portland, Oregon, United States of America. According to the criminal complaint in March 2020, Mr. Mangum was followed around in a Walmart in Wood Village, Oregon and was asked to leave Walmart several times, but Mr. Mangum refused to leave Walmart because he did not believe he did anything wrong. Finally, there was a direct face to face verbal confrontation between Mr. Mangum and Mr. Joe Williams, the security associate at the local Walmart store. After the incident, Mr. Mangum hired a lawyer called Greg Kafoury and filed a formal lawsuit. Mr. Kafoury said Walmart should respect the rights of their customers and review its security practices thoroughly. 

In response to this verdict, Randy Grove, the senior director for national media relations, made a statement saying that Walmart did believe “the verdict is excessive and is not supported by the evidence”. Mr. Grove then made some additional comments saying that Mr. Mangum was asked to leave Walmart because he interfered with Walmart Associates . He agreed that it was a fact that Mr. Mangum did not leave the Walmart after being asked to do so. Mr. Grove then said that Walmart was in the middle of thinking about some options that included post-trial motions.

As for Mr. Joe Williams, the security associate at the local Walmart store, was fired in July 2020 after he mishandled a Walmart Property worth of $35.

According to the News, Walmart had two other similar lawsuits. One lawsuit was about two African men in Texas in 2020, and the other lawsuit was involved an African man following an incident at a Walmart store, Fayetteville, Georgia in 2021.

On the ranking of “The 2nd Daguan·Keweiwei World Brand Value Top 900”released on January 13, 2022, Walmart’s brand value was 639.697 billion RMB, ranking the 31st.

作者：Byron