Death of a Wal-Mart Employee

After Black Friday death, shoppers back at Wal-Mart

BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO AND MATTHEW CHAYES | alfonso.castillo@newsday.com and matthew.chayes@newsday.com

12:31 PM EST, November 29, 2008

Other than glaziers out front fixing the doors damaged by a throng of impatient shoppers, there were no outward signs Saturday at the Valley Stream Wal-Mart of the chaos that turned this year's Black Friday into a day of death and mayhem.



Shoppers at the store, located near the Green Acres Mall, wheeled carts stuffed with big holiday gifts beginning shortly after the store opened at 7 a.m. A Salvation Army bell ringer solicited Christmastime donations.

But the specter of the stampede that killed Wal-Mart seasonal worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, Friday morning hung over the morning.


Shoppers echoed the sentiments of the Nassau County police detective supervising the investigation, who told reporters in the aftermath of Damour's death that the store could have and should have better prepared for the large crowds that camped out as early as 9 p.m. the night before for the post-Thanksgiving bargains.

Bibi Raffik of Jamaica, Queens, a frequent Wal-Mart shopper, said she always feels safe at the store.



The 41-year-old said, "I'm very shocked by what happened." She added: "There should have been more security here."



Wal-Mart has defended its security, noting that it hired additional personnel -- of whom Damour was one -- and put up barriers in anticipation of the Black Friday rush.

Out front on Saturday, the two glaziers from Solar Glass of Island Park worked to replace one of the doors unhinged by the shoppers just before 5 a.m. Friday.


In the melee, shoppers had pushed glass sliding doors to the ground, bending their aluminum frames like an accordion. The stampede resulted in the death of Damour, who was in the front vestibule helping to open the store for the morning. A cause of death is still pending an autopsy, police said.



Meanwhile, Damour's mother was en route to Jamaica, Queens, from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to help prepare her son's funeral arrangements, the family has said.

I’m sure everyone has heard of the latest holiday media sensation- the death of a New York Wal-Mart employee on Black Friday. Jdimytai Damour was trampled in an early morning stampede of overly-anxious shoppers on the busiest shopping day of the year- Black Friday. I think the media frenzy that this story has inspired is some sort of signal as to an increasing awareness of the dangers of commodity culture “going a little too far.”

I had never really analyzed the language of the term “Black Friday” before this. The day after Thanksgiving draws huge shopping crowds for sales across the country in department stores, local boutiques, and even grocery stores. Virtually every store in the country has some sort of sale on this notorious Friday. “Black” Friday as a consumer holiday has a very negative connotation of chaos and sin. It’s as if the sales are so enticing, no one can resist. Thus, the actual act of madly shopping and taking advantage of every special discount is severely stigmatized. The term implies that this type of mass-spending and uncontrollable desires to consume all types of objects is harmful and shameful.

Nonetheless, everyone gives in to this consumer holiday. Everyone wants to rush to the mall, or even Main Street, USA to purchase all kinds of things, whether they need them or not. Maybe the name is only ironic for humor’s sake, or to mock the notion of mass-consumption as harmful and immoral. Whatever it is, the term “Black Friday” is subversive to some extent.

I had heard about the death of Jdimytai Damour by 5:00pm on Friday, November 28, 2008. I saw it on a television while eating Mexican food with two friends. We were all totally shocked, horrified, and somewhat saddened to hear the news. How could a mass of 2,000 people gather around the doors of Wal-Mart at 5am, flatten the glass doors to the floor, and proceed to trample a living being- a temporary employee at that? Something, most likely a mixture of things, had so intensely stimulated desire, energy, and relentlessness within the mob that they ran over a human being- no one, or no group of people, was strong enough to calm the shopping frenzy. And that is where the absurdity lies- this was all the result of a shopping frenzy! Ever since reading Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, I feel as though I can find the spectacle anywhere. But this sad case is so clearly demonstrative of Debord’s fears that it makes me want to adopt a more radical critique of capitalism.

Ultimately, I think this incident has, and will continue to raise awareness about the serious mind control that commodities have over us. This incident makes it very easy to side with the many critics of mass-consumption and the capitalist mindset. Whether the term “Black Friday” was meant to mock or signal danger, it will forever be infused with a memory of death when a shopping frenzy eradicated all moral concern for others. The power of shopping over the mind of the 2,000 people stationed outside of that New York Wal-Mart literally erased all sense in those 2,000 minds except for the dangerously narrow goal of getting that special item they’ve been wanting- on sale.

My boyfriend went in to a local mall to see about seasonal hiring for some extra money. I brought up this incident and he said, “Natalie, I could die if I get a job at Macy’s.” It was funny for a minute, but then extremely chilling due to its likelihood.