Posted on 01/19/2007 8:07:53 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) --The Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing a bar owner in federal court and challenging his policy of barring people who wear their hair in cornrows, dreadlocks or twists.
The ACLU says the Kokoamos Island Bar, Grill and Yacht Club's policy amounts to racial discrimination because it singles out hairstyles usually worn by black customers.
The group filed the suit Thursday in U.S. District Court, Norfolk, against Kokoamos owner Barry Davis on behalf of Myron Evans and Kimberley Hines.
Evans was denied entry to the Kokoamos in June and Hines was turned way from the bar in August, an ACLU statement said.
Hines was with three white friends and was told she would not be allowed into the bar because of her dreadlocks, the statement said. Evans was with a group of 10 friends and was also turned away because he was wearing his hair in the same style, the ACLU said.
The ACLU sent a letter to Davis in October, telling him that his policy violates the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 -- which prohibits public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of race. A Richmond nightclub recently dropped a similar policy, the ACLU said.
The letter from ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg also asked Davis to ''provide immediate written assurances that individuals will no longer be barred from any of your clubs by reason of a hairstyle associated with a particular race, religion, or ethnicity.''
Davis declined to take action, ACLU's statement said.
Davis could not immediately be reached Thursday.
Must be a slow 'civil liberties violation' week for the ACLU. Carrying the banner for dreadlocks! Whew! This one could make it all the way up to the Supreme Court! LOLOLOL!
Come on, the ACLU pales in comparsion to the Treason Media in danger to the Republic. It isn't even close.
Do you mean based on personal appearance or ANY reason a business wants to use to bar a customer?
Do they have a right not to serve Jews or Christians?Green Party or Populist Party members?Gays or adulterers?
Please clarify.
Its complete economic ignorance to discriminate.As if blacks,or Jews or Catholics' money isn't as spendable as other folks!
Sounds like an ACLU setup to me. Perhaps they needed to MLK more funds from us taxpayers.
We have a bar here near Orlando that had a sign in the window that said NO COLORS.
Of course, they meant GANG COLORS but that didn't stop some empty heads from taking up the cause of why this bar was keeping the Black man down!
I said that there IS no right to discriminate, if you look at the law as it is. However, I do think that people should have a right to discriminate, as it is their right to choose with whom they want to associate their business. And businesses should not serve the public but their shareholders.
Yes it is. I don't agree with discrimination, against any group. But making poor business decisions should be legal, that's not the government's business.
Yes,the government shouldn't be the one determining such things in a private business.
Yet to have a business that has signs up saying,"no blacks,no women,etc"is blatantly anti-American and only serves as a propaganda tool for radical Islamists and others who would use businesses with these policies to defame America as a whole.
Sounds like what I've always wondered about.
Namely, how does one wash their hair when it's all in braids/dreadlocks?
Businesses are LICENSED by public authorities to serve the public. They can have their licenses revoked if they do not. Freedom of association does not apply to business activities.
This seems like a stupid ass rule, but if a bar wants to have it, so be it, I'd go elsewhere.. If I showed up with a friend who wore these hairstyles and we were denied entry, I'd go elsewhere.
I've been places where I wasn't allowed in because I was carrying my motor cycle helmet...
I don't think anyones civil rights have been violated, in fact, while the hairstyles listed may be worn mainly by blacks, most blacks I know don't wear these styles at all... so I can't see how you can claim overall racial discrimination.
Explains why he kept his hair in his face all those years when he was famous.... talk about your fugly.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I never doubted her, most certainly after knowing how many days of school my little blond has missed over the course of the past 3 years because of the problem :(
"The Treason Media can only spout propaganda. It has its effect, but cannot directly change anything." Completely wrong. It has DIRECTLY undermined the Vietnam War and now the Iraq War with its distortions, lies and omissions.
It has successfully brainwashed the American people so that it cannot make informed decisions. It has spread acceptance and regard for perversion so well that decency is laughed at and indecency lauded.
Its power is immense.
All the ACLU can do it go to court and hope its point of view prevails. Without the cover of the Media it would be far less successful as well. It has not changed any law and is limited to having them declared unconstitutional or overturned. A totally negative influence unlike that of the media which actually CREATES opinion.
My oldest niece went through a stage where she wore dreadlocks and bounced between blue and magenta and black for color..............I think she only colored it because she never washed it. And actually bragged about not washing it. It was absolutely repulsive.
OTOH I have a Jamaican friend who has dreadlocks and is absolutely meticulous about his hygiene. Somehow he keeps his hair clean, and I have actually heard him being critical of people that don't.
I understand where you are coming from but I think your point of view is a probably unacceptable to the vast majority of Americans.
It would be interesting to say the least how the vote on the Public Accomodations provision of the Civil Rights Act would have fared if put to a plebiscite.
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