Black man goes to Wichita car dealership for an oil change. Then he takes a look at his truck’s windshield: ‘I feel belittled’

A Black customer said he found a racial slur on his oil change sticker after having his car serviced at a local car dealership in Wichita. The sticker was reportedly distributed to other Black customers, prompting the car dealership to issue a statement.

Larry Martin Jr. visited Rusty Eck Ford located in Wichita, Kansas, for his regular car oil change in July. He later went to pick up his truck and just “assumed they changed the oil and finished my truck” before it was returned to him, according to KAKE.

Weeks after his standard service, however, a representative of the company reportedly contacted him and admitted that their oil change stickers contained a racial slur added by a former employee. “[They] told me one of their employees had put something on my sticker that was derogatory,” Martin told the outlet.

Wichita car dealership prints the N-word on its stickers

Martin didn’t initially know about the racial slur until the phone call. When he went to check the sticker, which was placed on his truck’s windshield, he realized that it contained the N-word.

“Thank you, come again! N*****” was printed on the sticker, alongside the date of his next oil change. Martin said the incident left him feeling “humiliated” and serves as a constant reminder every time he uses his truck. “It carries a lot of weight, and every time I get in my truck, this is what I’m thinking. It doesn’t go away. I feel belittled,” he said. “And I just want to know, why?”

Reportedly, Martin wasn’t the only customer affected by the Wichita dealership’s racist sticker. Martin’s daughter, Kelsey, shared a screenshot of the message from Rusty Eck Ford’s representative.

“It has been brought to our attention that now a former employee had written some derogatory or offensive statements to himself on our printed oil change stickers,” the company said. “We’re trying to take corrective action to replace the oil change stickers, while also reassuring our customers that this unfortunate and careless act of one individual does not reflect nor represent any of our company’s values or beliefs.”

Martin’s daughter believes this wasn’t a careless mistake

The company asked Martin to check his sticker to “see if there’s anything that looks off about it” so that they could replace it and “remedy the situation.” Despite the explanation, Kelsey criticized the company. “This wasn’t just a careless mistake; it is a hateful act that happened right under their management’s nose,” she said in her Facebook post. “How does a business allow its official printing systems and service department to be used to print and distribute hate speech to paying customers?

In a statement to KAKE, Rusty Eck Ford reiterated that they do “not tolerate racial, hateful, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate conduct in the workplace.” The company said it had launched an ongoing investigation and fired the offending employee, and it remains committed to treating individuals with “dignity and respect.”

Facebook users were outraged by the blatant racism in an official sticker. One user wrote, “Bruh disgusting!!!!!! at this point i don’t even believe they changed the oil….PISSED.” Some even questioned what type of working environment the company had for an employee to feel untroubled committing such acts. “I think it also says something that the employee felt comfortable enough to do this. Makes me curious about management,” another user said.

Others recommended that Martin file a lawsuit, saying, “Get a civil rights Attorney out of State.” In a similar incident, Target also came under fire for selling a racist costume, which they have since pulled out. It remains unclear how many customers were given the sticker.

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