BY: Walker
Published 4 years ago
A black customer at a sushi restaurant in Atlanta says racist employees kicked him out for wearing sneakers — while allowing a white woman in tennis shoes to stay.
via: Complex
Dress codes have always been a form of underhanded racism (word to Allen Iverson), but a sushi restaurant in Georgia made things a little more obvious when it allegedly kicked a man out of the establishment for wearing sneakers.
On Wednesday, footage appeared on social media showing an Atlanta man being kicked out of Umi Sushi in Buckhead for wearing all-white Air Force Ones. As expected, the man was confused by the motive as there were other people in the establishment wearing sneakers. He pointed to a white woman who was wearing a pair of Adidas.
Yesterday a black man was kicked out of Umi Sushi in Buckhead for wearing sneakers. An older white woman was also wearing sneakers but was allowed to stay.. ? pic.twitter.com/LeBEsOp0m5
— Everything Georgia (@GAFollowers) October 28, 2020
The man’s wife, Kaylan Colbert, told the local Fox affiliate that the couple was at the restaurant for a quiet birthday dinner and was already seated when asked to leave.
“As we were walking out though my husband noticed a woman at the bar had on tennis shoes and that’s when everything had gone out the window at that point, because there are no rules here for some people, only for others,” Colbert said. She also revealed she was the person filming the incident. “If you’re going to have rules, they should apply to everyone and not just some people.”
When they were outside the building, the incident started to escalate as the man demanded answers. The exchange ended without an altercation or arrest.
The owner, Farshid Arshid, maintains the dress code is posted at the building’s entrance. He admits fault on behalf of his employees, claiming they should’ve investigated the situation before asking the couple to leave.
“This was completely 100 percent an operational mistake on our end,” Arshid said. “When they got upset, we should have investigated that.”
Although management has reached out to the couple, Colbert can not guarantee they will return to the restaurant. “We’ve seen this on the news over and over lately. Nobody wants to feel that way. Nobody wants to feel like they can’t go to certain places,” she said.
You don’t have to give your money to places that don’t respect you.