Aireal Bonner claimed that she was “disrespectfully abused” by a Birmingham eatery and was sent out because of her outfit. She added that she did not believe her dress was the true reason she was ejected.
She was asked to leave Southern Kitchen & Bar in Uptown after refusing to cover her crocheted top, which the restaurant said was a “bikini top” that violated the restaurant’s dress code.
When Bonner inquired where the dress code sign was in a video she shared on Facebook, the manager informed her that the dress code does not have to be displayed since the restaurant is a private company.
Another manager handed her a t-shirt, but she declined to wear it. She was then ordered to leave, with the management threatening to contact the police if she did not.
Bonner subsequently stated that she did not believe her outfit was the reason she was ejected.
She told them that her clothes were an excuse not to have her dine there. The most noticeable flaw in her looks is that she seem to be Afrocentric. Her hair is of the Afro kind. She dresses in an Afrocentric style. So she felt that her attire was used as an excuse since they couldn’t explicitly say things like “We don’t like the color of your skin, we don’t like the way your hair looks.”
But the restaurant apologized since the effort to follow company rules was ill-timed” because personnel confronted her after she sat down rather than when she initially entered the place.
They apologize for disrupting Ms. Bonner’s supper and appreciate that it would make anybody feel uncomfortable, the statement stated, adding that it was creating more stringent processes in the enforcement of its policy, including dealing with any problems at the door.
They have done and will continue to do the work to ensure their restaurant is a welcoming environment for everybody, the eatery said.
Bonner rejected the apology and instead encouraged customers to leave critical reviews, which resulted in the establishment’s Yelp page being removed.
As she previously said, the purported ‘apology’ statement for the timing of when she was asked about a nonexistent clothing code is… “LAUGHABLE,” wrote Bonner.
Alabama Rally Against Injustice has planned a sit-in protest outside the restaurant on Saturday, stating that the eatery’s social media website had photos of other women wearing identical apparel.
Private enterprises have the freedom to operate as they see fit; however, discrimination will not be accepted, the organization said.
