Hopefully the Continental will be taking this one seriously.

Huh, I know exactly where that is, I used to work at the GameStop just up the street from that McDonald's.

What a bunch of jackasses. Even if they want to be hateful, ridiculous bastards on their own time (can't legislate away stupidity), if they're going to turn away non-white patrons in that part of Manhattan then they're letting 75% of their potential business walk out the door. (Or rather, forcing it to.)

Sue the bastards.

This would have been a good time to call 311 where they could route you to the appropriate agency to report this to.

I'd say I'd boycott the place over this, but it's just such a gross, parfum-de-barf place that I never went anyway.

@GayNerd: I figured that with your screen name, you may be more understanding when someone is unfairly discriminated. Guess not.

I would take this one straight to the local news station. Great way to spread word about how disgusting and discriminating of an establishment this is. And I like the idea of boycotting this place. Hopefully he can at least get his coworkers to rally behind him. Shame on you Continental!!!!

This pretty much sounds like a violation of Public Accommodations laws. Pretty much every state, and most large cities, have laws on the books and agencies to help with this very thing.

May the club go down in flames.

Hmm. It could go either way. I hate discretionary dress codes or admitting to clubs. But depending on what the place is actually like a baseball cap and shorts may not have been appropriate attire. But if that is the case they need to have the dress code outlined in some manner. There are plenty of places even in the Midwest that do not want people wearing flip flops or sweats but they make it clear and apply that rule to everyone.

But if the place in question is using an arbitrary "dress code" as an excuse to profile people they need to be confronted about it.

@Cat_In_A_Hat: I wonder, did this guy complain when they didn't let in a white kid because he was wearing polyester?

@GayNerd: They rejected his request to reenter after changing into his work clothes, permitted his white friends in said work clothes in, but rejected his black coworker still in office uniform.

I don't think that leaves much room for discussion.

Their "general vibe" is against federal law. See Section F Below:

Title 18, U.S.C., Section 245
Federally Protected Activities
1) This statute prohibits willful injury, intimidation, or interference, or attempt to do so, by force or threat of force of any person or class of persons because of their activity as:

a) A voter, or person qualifying to vote...;

b) a participant in any benefit, service, privilege, program, facility, or activity provided or administered by the United States;

c) an applicant for federal employment or an employee by the federal government;

d) a juror or prospective juror in federal court; and

e) a participant in any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

2) Prohibits willful injury, intimidation, or interference or attempt to do so, by force or threat of force of any person because of race, color, religion, or national origin and because of his/her activity as:

a) A student or applicant for admission to any public school or public College;

b) a participant in any benefit, service, privilege, program, facility, or activity provided or administered by a state or local government;

c) an applicant for private or state employment, private or state employee; a member or applicant for membership in any labor organization or hiring hall; or an applicant for employment through any employment agency, labor organization or hiring hall;

d) a juror or prospective juror in state court;

e) a traveler or user of any facility of interstate commerce or common carrier; or

f) a patron of any public accommodation, including hotels, motels, restaurants, lunchrooms, bars, gas stations, theaters...or any other establishment which serves the public and which is principally engaged in selling food or beverages for consumption on the premises.

3) Prohibits interference by force or threat of force against any person because he/she is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or class of persons from participating or affording others the opportunity or protection to so participate, or lawfully aiding or encouraging other persons to participate in any of the benefits or activities listed in items (1) and (2), above without discrimination as to race, color, religion, or national origin.

Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be subject to imprisonment for any term of years or for life or may be sentenced to death.

@zigziggityzoo: d'oh! Section 2.f), that is.

Though the CRA prohibits it and I find it to be reprehensible behavior...it's not his club or building. They can and should be able to let in whomever they want.

If I were him (I'm a minority) I would feel that inner-rage that happens when bigotry occurs. But, unlike this guy, would come to my senses. "It's not my place. I didn't fit their policy. Why do I want to go to a place that would exclude me?"

@Charles Duffy: Correct. It's all right there in the article.

@GayNerd: Wow way to blame to the OP. Did you even bother to read the article? I think your comment would have a bit more merit if he didn't state how he witnessed

"two other black men get ejected, one being in the group of my friends that came to meet us there. Unlike myself, he wore his complete work uniform. No cap, no sneakers, no "baggy pants."

I'm quite sure this had little to do with what he was wearing and bit more to do with how he looked or the "vibe" he was giving off, but based on your comment I think you're not quite able to decipher the difference.

Yeah, I've been to that bar [5 shots for $10 happy hour at 4pm...what! we were cold!], and it's nothing special. I don't know why they're pretending they have to worry about their "general vibe."

Call the news, call Rev. Al...

Let 'em reap the grain from their labor. Sounds like they deserve every single bit of the crapstorm to come down upon them.

@michaelgibbons: Do you think thats what all the black people should have done during the civil rights movement? Someone has got to do something about it. The man should lose his club.

@GayNerd: And where exactly did you read that? Again. Way to not read the article before posting as if you have a valid point to make. According to the original article the OP points out:

"I saw a White guy completely wasted (as opposed to me that only had two beers) walk in with a sideways baseball cap, hightop sneakers, and shorts that were so identical to mine, I feel like it was fateful sign of the obvious. This guy dressed just like me, was completely hammered, and was white. He was let in by the doorman and the owner watched him go by.

I asked the doorman what the difference between that guy and me was. He gave no response."

No mention of the polyester my friend.

@GayNerd: If what I am in my heart is determined by what I feel comfortable wearing...

...I suppose today I am in my heart of hearts Shaggy from Scooby Doo, and that yesterday I was a corporate automaton, and that the day before that I was an 80s headbanger.

Anyhow, this is completely moot -- the theory you posit is incompatible with the club's entrance selections regarding other individuals showing up in their work clothes.

This reminds me of when I tried to stay at the Beverly Palm Hotel

I dunno, while at first glance it sounds like a racial issue, but is it really?

Whenever I see a story like this, I always wonder how exactly the OP dealt with the issue as it happened instead of how it's presented in an email.

For all we know, the actual incident had him bouncing around like a mad man and acting as if he owned the bar instead of just being a client being unlawfully refused access.

@GayNerd: Right, because everyone that wears a hat sideways and some possibly baggy shorts (After all, we can't see how baggy these shorts are) is a gang banger. Perhaps you need to open your world view enough to include people with different fashion sense and lifestyles than your own (if you are gay you'd think you'd know this.) Hip Hop culture in new york has nothing to do with "gang-banging" and yet you are so judgmental as to typecast every black guy with a backwards hat as a a gang banger.

@GayNerd: If you're stupid enough to run a club with a discretionary door policy, don't complain when you're accused of making racist decisions.

See, that was easy. Got any more the-OP-is-always-wrong in your bag of tricks?

@seamer: It's always easier to attack the OP when you just invent facts and assume the OP is hiding them, innit?

@zigziggityzoo:
BOO FUCKIN YA

Get as many people to picket this place as possible, make a big stink. And no, you don't just want to be treated like a human, you want to shut this pig fucker down.

I really hope this places goes tits up very soon.

@michaelgibbons:
If everyone thought that way this would be a much scarier country right now and Barack Obama would most certainly not be the president.

@Gideon:
BRING ON THE SHITRAIN

Check out their website. All the group shots are white-only.

Flash mob.

Three black people? They might get away with it.

Three hundred black people in line waiting patiently to get in... They either shut their mouths or shut their doors.

@zigziggityzoo: All they have to do is show that they do let in black people, even just a few, and they are not in violation.

@michaelgibbons: He wasn't excluded until he stepped out to make a phone call and tried to step back in. Someone let him in the first time and he obviously fit their "vibe" at this time. While I understand your "why would I want to go a place where I'm not welcomed" reasoning, I think if the doorman had given him a straight answer (not some bs excuse) and was able to provide a bit more reasoning behind his decision, the OP would have backed down. I think the OP handled the situation well and is trying to do more to spread the word that this sort of discrimination still exists and prevent this from happening to others, rather than to just win his case vs the doorman to be let into this hole in the wall of a bar.

The real question is, why did this guy's "friends" not up and walk out of there and make sure no one from their work ever went there again.

What if instead of being one black man wanting to meet up with his (white) friends inside, it was a hundred ... and they all had to wait outside on the sidewalk for their friends to come out? WHat if this happened night after night after night?

As I've heard many times in my life from my grandparents, in "their day," baggy pants meant you were homosexual. Not a gang banger.

Just food for thought.

@Cat_In_A_Hat: I'd really love to hear his response to this.

I dont think this had anything to do with race, if he showed up dressed like a thug if he was white he wouldve been kicked out. Once you kick out a guy because you suspect him of being a thug you dont let him in because he changed his clothes. it's still the same guy. It also sounds like he got indignant, thats a great way to not get in.

@seamer: @mythago: Well when the situation seems unlikely then ya, it is. I dont think you want to protest a bar because some kid dressed like a thug got kicked out. Many bars do that thats why they have bouncers.

@Cat_In_A_Hat: Maybe the bouncer wasnt a great bouncer?

@mythago: Could NOT have said this better.

Of course club dress codes are about selecting the preferred clientele through quasi-legal means. This same issue regarding dress codes has been going on for a while in my town. I've seen pictures from inside the new and trendy shitholes here: they're not going to convince me that there's dress code related to clothing when the bartender is in a bikini.

The only problem is that it's impossible to prove that it's due to racism. If there was a real dress code, I wouldn't be surprised if baggy pants and a sideways hat violated it. But does that mean the owner didn't Laney because he's black? Not necessarily. He could have just not liked Laney, regardless of his skin color.

I solve this problem by avoiding bars with dress codes. I don't give a damn whether or not I meet someone's arbitrary criteria for inclusion in their pissant cool-kids club.

@Gamerver05: Try reading the story, the one Consumerist posted, you don't even have to click through the link. They turned another BLACK MAN away in the same uniform the OP's friends were wearing. Same outfit, different skin color.

duh.

@Gamerver05: Reasonable alternative argument...until you get to the part in the article where two other black guys were kicked out while wearing the same clothing as the white co-workers.

Plus, a dress code makes sense to me if you want the place to have a certain look...that's fine. Using a dress code as some sort of personality test is dodgy. Suppose you dressed up to go to a fancy restaurant, and they turned you away because they had seen you pass by earlier that day in sweatpants?

@mythago: I agree with both of of you (although GayNerd should have rephrased to condemn supporting discriminatory bars without treading the blame the OP line.)

I have always felt that a privately owned business of any type - that is NOT using local/state/federal money - should be able to put up a sign that says "No WHATEVER Allowed."

Hire whoever they want, or not want. Black, white, men, women - whatever you like or not like. Don't let THAT group in, only hire people who look like THEM.

It's called freedom.

AND - they have the freedom to NOT have a whole bunch of people come in and spend money. Just like I have the freedom to not go in there if I don't like them - or go there everyday if I do.

Of course if they are taking tax money or whatever they have to play by their rules. Tax money belongs to everyone, have to let everyone in.

@Michael Belisle: "Treading the blame the OP line"? If responding to an accusation that a bar is racist by saying 'you're stupid for going there in the first place' isn't flat-out blaming the OP, good grid, what is? Anything short of suggesting the OP get the death penalty?

@Gideon: I don't know if news would get out.

"4) What happens at Continental - stays at Continental."

[www.continentalnyc.com]

@starrion: I *love* this idea. Make sure everybody is dressed alike, in well-fitting khakis, loafers and plain polo shirts. No baseball caps, nothing that could conceivably violate the dress code.