A Baltimore mother is heartbroken after her 9-year-old son experienced race-related discrimination firsthand over the weekend at a restaurant in their city. Marcia Grant says she and her son Dallas had plans to dine at Ouzo Bay in the city’s Harbor East area but were turned away because he was wearing basketball shorts and a Jordan T-shirt.
Marcia, who shared her experience via her social media, directly asked the manager why her black son was being denied entry when they could see a young white boy dining in the restaurant wearing basically the same thing. Marcia reveals that eventually, they left.
“We had to leave. They would not let my son in,” she tells us. “He’s 9 years old. It was so hard for him. He goes to a school that’s about 70% white. They always teach the kids they are the same. It was really hard for Dallas to see a kid that looked like one of his friends at school sit and eat there and he couldn’t.”
The manager had a hard time answering Marcia’s question and even suggested if they lived nearby to go home and have Dallas change. The company that owns Ouzo Bay, Atlas Restaurant Group, responded Monday evening revealing the manager in the video has since been placed on indefinite leave.
“Today, we learned of an incredibly disturbing incident that occurred over the weekend at one of our restaurants in Baltimore (MD), Ouzo Bay. The video made public earlier today was by a very concerned mother after she and her young son were denied seated dining service at the restaurant due to her son not meeting the dress code requirements,” the message from Atlas Restaurant Group said.
“The video clearly shows the woman’s son, an African American young person, wearing athletic shorts and an Air Jordan shirt. The video also shows a Caucasian youth, dressed similarly, who was permitted to dine in the restaurant. This should have never happened, the manager seen in the video has been placed on indefinite leave. We are sickened by this incident. We sincerely apologize to Marcia Grant, her son and everyone impacted by this painful incident.”
Atlas revealed that the dress codes for its restaurants, including the one in Baltimore. are not meant to be discriminatory and after review, owners have decided to revise it so that children 12 and under accompanied by an adult will not be subject to a dress code.
But Marcia tells us that the change in dress code clearly misses the point of why she and her son were so upset.
“This was not about the dress code! This was about a black child being treated different than a white child,” she responded to one of the owners on Facebook. “My 9YO was so hurt to see a white child that looked like one of his friends at school and somehow you adults can not seem to understand that this was not about dress code. I have not responded because if you do not understand the issue, how can you make it right!!! (It’s ridiculous) that children have to teach a company the size of Atlas about treating people the same regardless of race in 2020.”
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