Is Mother's a racist bar? They kept out 6 black students during Sr. trip

I read this and thought about it for a bit. Since we don't know what the students were wearing, it's impossible to say whether or not the bar was making a sensible call.

That other students were allowed in wearing pants said to be no less baggy makes this seem like a valid complaint of racism. From the comments to the article:

"One of the kids who got rejected for having “too-baggy” pants handed over that same pair of pants to another senior, Jordan Roberts. Jordan is not the biggest guy, and moreover, he’s white. Jordan then waltzed into the same bar the black students had been rejected from–using the same pair of pants that they were rejected for wearing. He even chatted with the bouncer on the way in. We took a picture of this to prove it. Ridiculous."

Baiting?

The class president has sent out a press release and is trying to interest Chicago news outlets in covering the story. Here it is:

Dear Students,

I know that it is unusual for the Senior Class President to send an e-mail out to the entire student body, but for those of you who have heard what happened during the course of the Senior Class Trip to Chicago this past
weekend you will know that it is time for us to put custom and protocol aside and to react not just as a class, but as a united student body. That is why I am writing to all of you today.

One of the events scheduled for the Senior Trip to Chicago that took place this past weekend was a night out at Mother's Night Club Original bar. We brought them over 200 students, all of whom were admitted. However, when the six African-American students who were on the trip arrived at the bar, they were prevented from entering. The manager cited a "baggy jeans" policy. Let me be very clear because I was there: The students were not wearing baggy jeans. In fact, these students were better dressed than many of their white classmates who had already been admitted.

Amongst the students who were prevented from entering the bar was the Class of 2010's Internal Vice-President Iboro Umana and Treasurer Regis Murayi. These students were integral in setting up the trip and in finalizing a deal with the very bar that prevented them from entering. The six students involved offered to go back to the hotel to change, but the manager told them that he would still not let them in.

Still not wanting to jump to conclusions, we set-up an experiment where Regis Murayi, who had just been rejected from entering the bar, and Jordan Roberts (a white student on the trip) changed pants. It should be noted that Jordan is shorter than Regis and that the pants looked substantially more "baggy" on him. Jordan went to the bar and got in without any questioning or problems.

This was never about "baggy jeans" or a dress code, ?this was a clear-cut case of racism and we must respond.

I thank the almost 200 Seniors who voluntarily came out yesterday morning and protested what happened. But there is much work still to be done.

Working with ABS, we will be putting together a Town Hall Forum with representation from faculty, staff, students leaders and the students who were affected by this next Monday, October 26th at 8 pm. The focus of this town hall will be on what we, as Wash U students, can now do to respond to this incident and incidents like this one. Please be on the look out for
more information on this.

We have begun working with the NAACP and with other Colleges and Universities across Chicago to try to set-up a massive protest in front of the bar sometime in the coming weeks. We will also keep everyone posted on
this as it develops.

We have reached out to media outlets across Chicago about what took place. We will be sending letters to city leaders, University leaders and business leaders to encourage a boycott of the bar.

Finally, we are looking into the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the establishment for discrimination.

Students, we can not do any of these things by ourselves. If you have any connections in Chicago, whether it be friends who can boycott the bar, someone in government or in the media who can help us or an attorney that can give us advice, now is the time to call on them. If you have ideas about things we can do to move our message forward, now is the time to e-mail us and let us know.

Six Washington University student leaders were discriminated against because of their race. We can not afford to sit by as a community and do nothing. Let's unite as a show of support to these six students. Let's unite to stand against discrimination in all of it's forms. And let's
unite to show Mother's bar what so many of us were telling them on Saturday night: They've messed with the wrong people!

See the attached documents for more information, pictures and the press release that was sent to 26 news agencies across Chicago.

Thank you, spread the word, talk to your connections, give us ideas and I
hope to see you next Monday evening.

Best,
Fernando

--
Fernando S. Cutz
Senior Class President, Class of 2010
Washington University in St. Louis

I can relate to this exact form of treatment at the WB's in Manchester, NH. The same 'baggy jeans' excuse was used against me, despite the fact that I had been admitted before (in the same 'baggy' jeans). I stood aside and watched as a number of people were allowed in, wearing 'baggier' jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers.