Senate testimony highlights the experience of “Banking Minnesota While Black Customers” at US Bank

Almost a year after Peter Wogba first shared his experience of alleged discrimination at a US Bank branch in Bloomington, his story is now part of a larger call for reform in Washington, DC.

Wogbah’s experience with the Minnesota-based company was highlighted during a committee hearing Thursday in the US Senate.

It also reported 5 investigations for the first timeMeal, a black man, was called by cashiers when he tried to get a cashier’s check from his business account in December 2021.

Body camera video obtained by 5 of the interrogators shows officers stopped, questioned, and foreheaded him before letting him go.

Janay Nelson, chair of the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, cited Wogbah’s story in her testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

“Even after he called the 1-800 U.S. Bank number to confirm the existence of the wire money, the tellers told Mr. Waugh to go to another branch and get the check there,” Nelson told the senators. Then they called the police. This discrimination has severe consequences.”

That story was among several shared at a hearing called Financial Justice: Racism and Discrimination in Banking.

He watched a video meal of shahada at his home on Friday.

“I’m so grateful that people were able to see what black people are up against — what we’re going through in this country,” Wajbah said. “I want the Bank of the United States to take responsibility for the way they treat their customers.”

In earlier statements from 5 investigations, US Bank said it expanded staff training and established a community advisory committee “comprised of 11 leaders from the Twin Cities Black community.”

The US Bank offered no additional comment on Senate testimony in which Nelson and other leaders said the banking industry needed to do more.

“These financial institutions, intended to serve the entire public and fuel our economy, have denied certain communities an equal opportunity to save for the future to invest in a business to buy a home so important to building intergenerational wealth,” Nelson said. . “The cost is not borne by communities of color alone. It was born by our economy that could be thriving, and could be much more extensive if that discrimination did not happen.”

Wajba says he moved his money out of the US Bank, but is still considering legal action.