A video have surfaced on social media displaying a black woman being kicked out of a family-friendly restaurant due to her “inappropriate” outfit.
Now, the woman is making claims that her race was a large part of the problem.
At the time, Aireal Bonner had walked into Southern Kitchen & Bar in Birmingham, Alabama where her outfit gathered some unwanted attention.
According to Bonner, the staff “rudely mistreated” her and eventually kicked her out, citing her attire.
However, Bonner has since posted a video of the incident on Facebook, claiming that her clothing was not the issue and that the establish was “racist.”
The video shows an employee of the restaurant speaking with Bonner, during which she offers her a shirt at no cost to put on over her crocheted top while in the restaurant.
The restaurant made claims that Bonner’s top was a “bikini top” and therefore inappropriate for the restaurant’s family-friendly atmosphere.
After refusing to cover up, Bonner is asked to leave the restaurant due to violating it’s dress code, with the manager allegedly threatening to call police if she didn’t exit the premises.
In Bonner’s Facebook post, she stated “I was threatened with police action simply because I wanted to sit and eat in an outfit that I felt comfortable and happy in. There was no customer complaint that prompted the situation. This was purely the way that the ‘owner’ chose to run his business.”
When speaking with CBS 42 regarding the incident she experienced, Bonner said “My clothing was an excuse to not have me dine there.”
She continued:
“I think the biggest issue with my appearance is that I look very Afro-centric. My hair is an Afro texture. The way that I dress is Afro-centric. So I believe that because they can’t directly say things like ‘We don’t like the color of your skin, we don’t like the way that your hair looks,’ my clothing was just used as an excuse.”
The restaurant told a different story, claiming Bonner’s top was “not consistent with our appropriate attire policy” and offered an apology saying the “attempt to follow company policy was ill-timed” due to staff confronting the woman after she had already sat down.
Bonner was not impressed by and has since refused to accept the apology, calling it laughable.
