The normally
boisterous Saturday night bar scene on Third
Avenue and St. Marks was interrupted on May 28 by the sounds of
protesting and chanting. Over the course of three hours, more than 50
people crowded in front of Continental bar to demand an end to its
racist and discriminatory door policy.
Several protesters
took turns on a microphone, reading testimonials of the individuals
who had posted their ugly experiences of being turned away at the
door. The bar’s excuses for turning people away range from being
“out of dress code” to not being a regular or a “member.”
One testimonial
described a bouncer telling a prospective patron: “Don’t you
think I feel bad denying my people night after night? This is what
the owner wants and I have to make a living.”
Inside the bar,
owner Trigger Smith refused to confront the protesters. This was not
the first time he was faced with the angry picketers.
It will soon be
close to a year since Smith was first introduced to the ANSWER (Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition. One night in June 2010,
Shaniqua Pippen and her partner Ashley Diaz arrived with a group of
their friends and approached the bar, which known for its five shots
for $10 offer. Once Pippen reached the bouncer, she was turned away.
When she pressed the bouncer for a reason why, the bouncer responded,
“Your people don’t know how to act.”
As the many sites,
blogs and Facebook pages can testify, this was hardly an uncommon
occurrence. The difference was that Pippen and Diaz weren’t going
to turn away without a fight.
Weeks after the
incident, Pippen approached the ANSWER Coalition about taking action.
ANSWER compiled 30 other accounts of Black, Latino and LGBT
individuals who were denied entry into the bar.
A letter was sent to
Continental’s management requesting a meeting to discuss Pippen’s
and the other complaints. The letter also included the following
demands: to post an anti-discrimination statement, to host regular
multicultural nights and finally to provide diversity training for
the management.
Smith refused to
meet over the course of four separate letters.
In the meantime, the
ANSWER Coalition volunteers kept the pressure on by handing out
flyers on a weekly basis letting the community know about the Jim
Crow-style attitude of the nearby bar. Every time we conducted
outreach or protested, we met passersby who spoke of their own
experiences. An African American couple was told they could not enter
without a “membership card.”
A Puerto Rican man from Harlem remembered being turned away from the
bar despite being dressed better than most the people inside.
In October, Pippen
made an official complaint to the New York City Commission on Human
Rights, which has opened an investigation into Continental.
The first picket was
held on Dec. 10, 2010, and they continued on a monthly basis. On May
28, ANSWER came out front with bullhorns and a portable sound system,
dissuading people from entering the bar. The crowd of protesters grew
as pedestrians joined the group, and the number of patrons soon
dwindled to a handful.
With placards in
tow, the crowd chanted, “1, 2, 3, 4
Stop racism at the door! 5, 6, 7, 8 We
want justice no more hate!”
A bachelorette party
and a group of sailors who dared enter, left after a short stay. Two
African American women who came across the picket got on the mic. One
woman stated how the protest confirmed her own suspicions of why she
was denied entry months ago. “I stopped and decided to speak out
because I’m teaching my own daughter to stand up for what is
right.”
