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Family Denied Service For Being Black

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Black family denied restaurant service in Charleston, SC

Most of you by now have probably heard about this story of how a group of 25 family members were denied service because a white patron stated she didn't want them to be seated next to her. The manager of the popular restaurant known as Wild Wing Café came out and tried to explain to this party why she couldn't seat them, she explained as if they were suppose to be understanding...Wow!!!

I'm co-owner of Eleven28 Pub & Eatery and we would like to raise $3500 to send this party of 25 on a Charleston Harbor Tour & Dinner Cruise. Any amount contributed would be greatly appreciated. We will also try to have a photographer on board so we can post photos of this event.

If you haven't heard about this story please read below:

Michael Brown says he was celebrating his cousin's last day in Charleston last month at Wild Wing Cafe in North Charleston. He says after his party of 25 waited two hours for a table, the shift manager told them there was a "situation."
"She said there's a situation where one of our customers feels threatened by your party, so she asked us not to seat you in our section, which totally alarmed all of us because we're sitting there peaceably for two hours," explains Brown. "Obviously, if we were causing any conflict, we would have been ejected out of the place hours before."
Brown says while he was talking to the shift manager, someone in his group began videotaping the conversation. Brown says that's when the manager became upset and refused to seat them.
"I asked her I want to be clear with you," says Brown. "I said so you're telling me I have to leave. She said I have a right to deny you service. I said so you're asking me to leave because you're upset because he was recording you, after we've waited for two hours, and after you've already pretty much discriminated on us, and she answered yes."
Brown says several calls were made to the corporate office in Mt. Pleasant, but he says they did not receive a call back, so he took to Facebook with this post Thursday.
I will never go to Wild wings cafe in N. Chs again! We (Party of 25 family and friends) waited 2hrs, patiently and were refused service because another customer (White) felt threatened by us. This type of racial discrimination is unacceptable and we have to put a STOP TO IT. The manager looked me dead in the face and said she was refusing us service because she had a right to and simply she felt like it. DO NOT SUPPORT THIS ESTABLISHMENT... PLEASE SHARE THIS POST... We need your help.
That caught the restaurant's attention.
"We got alerted through social media, so we always encourage our customers to respond to us or to comment on our social media pages," says Debra Stokes, the chief marketing officer for Wild Wing Cafe.
Representatives for Wild Wing Cafe say they immediately responded and spoke to Brown.
"We had a conversation," says Stokes. "It was a really good conversation. He and many of his family and friends were there about a month ago, and they are regular customers of ours. So, they were having a going away party, and they just didn't receive the experience that they have come to know and love."
Brown says an apology was offered and a free meal for the entire group, but he says he's not completely satisfied.
"We weren't coming there for a free meal. When we came there that night, we were coming to patronize the business. This is not a situation where you can just give us a free meal and everything is ok because it's deeper than that."

Organizer

Willis Taylor
Organizer
Elgin, SC

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