A Boston bar owner is being sued for allegedly turning away Hispanic and black patrons after saying, “I don’t know you guys, and you should try to find another place to go.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed a lawsuit against Peggy O’Neil’s Bar and Grille in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood due to “a pattern of not allowing customers of color to enter and use the bar.”
The lawsuit claims that in December 2010, two men waiting to enter the bar for a friend’s birthday party were told it was too late to enter, turned away at the door and told to find somewhere else to go. Their friend, who was already inside, tried to intervene, and in the mean time, nearly a dozen white customers were allowed in.
According to NY Daily News, the lawsuit also states that when another group of non-white patrons attempted to enter the establishment later that night, they were told by Caron O’Niel (the bar owner), “We don’t like people of your kind here. We’ve been doing this for a while and it’s been working fine and we don’t want any problems. . .I’m not letting you people in.”
In April 2011, it was reported that minorities were turned away once again.
The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages, civil penalties, and a request for staff undergo anti-discrimination training.
