Racism Controversy Swirls for Washington University in St. Louis Students
The story of six African-American Washington University in St. Louis students and a Chicago bar that wouldn't let them in has consumed the leafy west St. Louis campus, reports Student Life, the school's student newspaper.
The FBI and several other groups are investigating an incident that occurred earlier this month at the Original Mother's nightclub in the Windy City. The six students, who were traveling with some 200 other seniors from Washington University, were denied entry to the bar on October 17, the report says. One of the students, Regis Murayi, is the treasurer of the Senior Class Council, the group that arranged the trip to Original Mother's. Murayi filed complaints with the Chicago Commission on Human Rights, the Illinois attorney general's office, and the U.S. Department of Justice, the report says.
In his complaints, Murayi says the bar manager would not let him and five other students enter because they were wearing baggy jeans. But, Murayi says, white students wearing comparably baggy jeans entered the bar. Murayi says that he changed jeans with a white student, who was then admitted to the bar.
"It's pretty demoralizing. We had prearranged this agreement" with the nightclub, Murayi tells the Chicago Tribune. "We had spoken to these people prior. We had brought a lot of business to them."
Original Mother's declined interview requests from Student Life but did release a statement on the incident, saying that it "does not discriminate against guests or patrons on the basis of race and would never tolerate discriminatory conduct." The bar's human resources manager, Dan Benson, tells the Chicago Tribune that the students were a security concern because they had gang-affiliated colors on and gang violence has been a problem in the area near the bar.
"It's an unfortunate situation," Benson tells the Tribune.
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Tags: colleges | discrimination | race | Washington University in St. Louis
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incident at bar
Mother's in Chicago has been a racist bar for 30 years. This is nothing new. I am from Chicago and it is common knowledge.
Here is the account from a white person
Cutz, who is white, said he confronted the manager. "These six [students] were better-dressed than I was," Cutz told CNN.
He told the students to "go back to the hotel and change." But the manager of the bar stepped in to say that he had made his decision and that the six men could not return to the bar even if they changed clothes, Cutz said.
The students became "more agitated" and "set up an experiment," Cutz said.
Class Treasurer Regis Murayi, who is black, exchanged jeans with a white student, Jordan Roberts, who -- being 3 inches shorter than Murayi -- looked "substantially baggy."
Roberts approached the same manager who had turned away the African-American students, paid the entry fee and was allowed in, Cutz said.
why
Why are they patronizing an establishment that apparently doesn't want them there? I hope that they will no longer support this place.
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