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Brown University Students Force Apology From Local Bar After Accusing Employees of Racism

Brown University Students Force Apology From Local Bar After Accusing Employees of Racism

“We should have had policies in place that would have made you feel safer and heard when you took issue with the situation”

A bar in Providence that’s popular with Brown University students was recently forced to apologize after some students accused employees of the establishment of being racists.

Some students waiting in line to get in were being rowdy and were told to stop it. That’s what kicked off this whole ridiculous scenario.

Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon has the story:

Brown University Students Extract Groveling Apology From Working-Class Watering Hole

Students at Brown University extracted an apology from a blue-collar bar after a soon-to-be McKinsey consultant accused its employees of racism, prompting a student boycott and a shakedown from the school’s diversity office.

The Graduate Center Bar apologized on April 27 for removing three black students who were roughhousing in line, after one of the students, Okezie Okoro, confronted the bouncer who told them to knock it off. The confrontation took place on April 7 and occurred after the bouncer let them inside. When Okoro gave the bouncer grief for reprimanding his friends, an argument ensued, culminating in the students’ ejection from the bar.

A week later, Okoro posted on social media a 2,000-word denunciation of the bar, replete with a “content warning” and a list of demands. The post accused the bouncer of racism and attacked the bar’s manager, Susan Yund, for dismissing that accusation.

“When we students voice concerns that someone has been harmed,” Okoro wrote, “we expect at the very least a response that attempts to deepen understanding.”

The bar capitulated, sending Okoro a fawning apology that outlined the steps it was taking “to be diverse, queer, and safe for all.”

“We should have had policies in place that would have made you feel safer and heard when you took issue with the situation,” the bar told Okoro. “We should have engaged with you more respectfully, patiently, and compassionately when you disagreed with us.”

Brown students took a victory lap with this article at the Brown Daily Herald:

Following student boycott, Graduate Center Bar announces changes to diversity, inclusion policies

In response to an April 7 incident in which an employee at the Graduate Center Bar told Okezie Okoro ’22 to leave the premises following a disagreement with an employee, the GCB announced updates to its diversity and inclusion policies, including the addition of bar cameras, the implementation of de-escalation training and an update of harassment and bar removal policies.

The changes were announced April 27 following a meeting between Okoro, bar managers and Sylvia Carey-Butler, vice president for institutional equity and diversity.

On April 13, Okoro shared a document on his Instagram account in which he recounted being asked to leave the GCB the week before. Shortly after, he announced a student boycott of the GCB in response to the incident, along with a list of demands from bar staff including an apology to students involved and improvements to the GCB’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

You may think the bar made a mistake in apologizing, but they apparently rent their space from the university, so they may not have had much of a choice in the matter.

Featured image via YouTube.

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Comments

The Gentle Grizzly | May 21, 2022 at 10:04 am

Grovel grovel, snivel, soul pants, grovel grovel…

    A dog licking its owner is so common that dog owners usually call it “giving kisses” and consider it to be a sign of affection.

    Idonttweet in reply to The Gentle Grizzly. | May 21, 2022 at 12:07 pm

    How long till this woke bar loses enough business to warrant shuttering the place?

      vinnymeyer in reply to Idonttweet. | May 21, 2022 at 1:52 pm

      “You may think the bar made a mistake in apologizing, but they apparently rent their space from the university, so they may not have had much of a choice in the matter.”

      Going through the motions of appeasing the mob may be a cost of doing business. They’re on campus, renting from the University. That would imply that probably 98% of their patrons are students. They boycott you, you’re out of business. VERY different than the Gibson’s situation.

      The cameras are a good idea. They should have done that years ago.

        JRaeL in reply to vinnymeyer. | May 21, 2022 at 2:08 pm

        I am sure they have a legally binding lease agreement. Unless the written forbids them from establishing behavioral guidelines for patrons the University has no right to demand an apology.

          dunce1239 in reply to JRaeL. | May 21, 2022 at 2:53 pm

          It will be just matter of time until there is a huge bar fight and the bouncer will just be a witness as the place is wrecked.

        Idonttweet in reply to vinnymeyer. | May 21, 2022 at 9:07 pm

        It wasn’t the apology so much as the groveling tone of the apology. They just pretty much abdicated their ability to control who they let in and the kind of behavior that’s unacceptable in the place.

THE WUSSESS OF TODAY,
“. . . a fawning apology that outlined the steps it was taking “to be diverse, queer, and safe for all.”

“We should have engaged with you more respectfully, patiently, and compassionately when you disagreed with us.”

THE MEN OF YESTERYEAR,
“Hey look, mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast and we don’t need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere. Is that clear or do I have to slip you my left for a convincer?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46sCU3xph8

stevewhitemd | May 21, 2022 at 11:01 am

The bar owners should have taken a lesson from certain candy store in Oberlin…

    I had the same reaction. It was Gibson’s Bakery. However, Gibson’s business is still poor years later and they still have not collected a dime from Oberlin. It takes someone in power, like the University, the supposed adults in the room, to shut the students down or invite them to go elsewhere.

I didn’t k ow Gibsons was doing so poorly
Damn those students, damn the university and damn the city

healthguyfsu | May 21, 2022 at 12:35 pm

“Installation of cameras”

This is the real action to correct this situation.

The Gentle Grizzly | May 21, 2022 at 12:59 pm

There are so many people today then want to go where they are welcome. Either by the business, or by the clientele.

I don’t drink, but if I wanted to go to a bar to get a beer or something else and noticed that it was a cop bar, I would turn on my heel and walk out. I know damn well the law enforcement people don’t want “civilians “around them.

Same thing with a sports bar. I wouldn’t set foot in one in the first place.

If the “queers “who ACT all prissy and kissy want to go to a bar, go to one of their own. There, they are welcome.

If they find they aren’t welcome anywhere, they need to rethink who THEY are, not the business or it’s “regulars”.

    The Gentle Grizzly in reply to The Gentle Grizzly. | May 21, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    “ There are so many people today then want to go where they are welcome. ”

    NOT WELCOME

      CommoChief in reply to The Gentle Grizzly. | May 21, 2022 at 1:31 pm

      It’s not that they are unwelcome but that some folks can’t subordinate their narcissism to the culture they are entering into. Instead they demand that that society must alter itself to not just tolerate their behavior but be forced to accept it and glorify it.

Colonel Travis | May 21, 2022 at 1:24 pm

Why are there so many cowards in this country?

The College bar experience has changed from the 1990’s. In Tuscaloosa at the time if you started a confrontation with bouncers you got…bounced…repeatedly… outside ….on the concrete …until you humbly confessed your sins or the bouncers grew exhausted. Everyone knew, understood and accepted that as the price for foolishness.

Following that you would face exile from said establishment for a period of time and your entire Frat alongside you if it was bad enough. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of scuffles and several no holds barred outright brawls but they occurred outside and were mutually consented to. Fun times!

Never apologize to this lot. Why? For the same reason SCUBA divers don’t carry net bags of chum on a dive.

The bar is made safe for all by kicking out spoiled brats like Okoro. With his attitude of victim hood you can be sure the slightest perceived insult would result in provocation and subsequent altercation. I believe bar-owners and their employees are especially tuned in to spotting such sorts. That is why early intervention is likely a policy.

I am pretty sure Okoro would not have pulled this crap on a Black owned bar in a largely Black neighborhood. He and his friends probably would not have cut up so much either. Had they done so his lack of home-training would not have been seen as a reason to cower to demands for an apology. How could he cry racism.

When I was in school Black students were much better behaved when there was a Black teacher. White teachers would hold back discipline for fear of racism accusations.

Unless this bar wants brawls every night, it will establish clear rules for behavior of the students that frequent it. A simple sign: “No brawling” should do it.

Soon the patrons will be of a darker hue as whites will find it a hostile place and avoid it. De facto segregation.

At this point, the only acceptable response to these types of prog shakedowns is a phrase the woke are fond of and will understand: “Suck a cock.”

“after a soon-to-be McKinsey consultant accused its employees of racism…”

We’re supposed to be impressed by the fact that this guy is going to work for McKinsey, I supposed. I’m not. His future occupation is irrelevant. Whatever his choice of profession, it’s clear that this idiot has been well-indoctrinated and well-marinated in Dumb-o-crats’ contrived and corrosive ideology of perpetual, self-styled victimhood and grievance.

The real, legal question is: were white, Asian etc. students doing the same thing and only these three black students were singled out?

If not, the blacks don’t have a leg to stand on. I presume that there are at least 50 videos of the altercation for reference.

The real question: why do blacks think that being black gives them the right to fight, riot, pillage etc.?

Oh right. Reparations. Alex, I would like to buy “phony race cards for a $1000.”

texansamurai | May 22, 2022 at 12:10 pm

the only error here was letting them into the bar in the first place–the doorman should have nixed their entry right there–am not an amateur drinker (actually don’t drink anymore) and when we went to a bar / club we expected the bouncers / staff to maintain order and expel jackasses so we could relax / imbibe in peace

have been thrown out of a few bars in my college days– not for altercations i started but for ones that i finished–regardless, would never have happened if the other party had been denied entry / escorted out when they became belligerent

kudos to the bouncer(s) here–a mess not of your making and you’re charged with cleaning it up / keeping others safe

as far as the jackasses(black or otherwise), screw you and don’t come back until(or if)you’ve grown up

Students who attached their names to this farcical Red Guards exercise may find that employers these days search the internet and social media, and the internet never forgets.
Employers might choose to forego interviewing people who have made it clear what kind of people they are, and what kind of employees they would be.
Entitled, screeching, bullying opportunists.
And those are their good points.

“…Students at Brown University extracted an apology from a blue-collar bar after a soon-to-be McKinsey consultant accused its employees of racism…”

I’m sorry. What am I missing? It should be obvious that having spent 20 years in the Navy, having been raised by a USCG Senior chief, I’ve gone drinking in some rough neighborhoods around the world (Pro tip: if you need a weapon you can buy a shovel in any hardware store in the world; the file to sharpen it is to help you break sod).

This supposedly Blue Collar bar apologized. I can give countless examples of how both as an owner and as a customer we’d have just kicked their worthless @$$es and laughed about it. But my favorite story when I was hanging out at the local “pub snack” in Yokosuka. A couple of drunk off duty Japanese cops came in. And they behaved very disrespectfully to me as I was the only white guy. They thought the other Japanese patrons would be amused. They didn’t know those other Japanese customers included my rugby team members and several other close friends I had known for years. They also didn’t know I know enough Japanese to understand they were insulting me.

We forcibly ejected them. And laughed. And we knew nothing would come of it because in Japan it isn’t career enhancing for cops to get into bar brawls.

I retired in 2008. I haven’t been in many waterfront dives since I moved to Texas. Have “blue collar” bars changed this much that they apologize to college punks at the drop of a hat?

https://www.avio.co.jp/english/

They had a club team when I was stationed in Japan. I don’t know if they still do. Playing in Japan allowed my to extend my rugby playing years into my 40s. There are some big Japanese men but for the most part they weren’t bigger than me. Had I somehow managed to get stationed in Australia I wouldn’t have lasted much into my 30s.

The Navy made me give it up, though. I was informed it’s not a good look for the intel briefer to show up to brief the admiral on Monday morning with a black eye and broken swollen nose. My face took a beating but I never managed to break my nose. Or get my ears torn off. Rugby injuries look bloody, but they’re never as sever as football injuries. You put pads and a helmet on a stupid kid and they think they’re invincible. Until they wind up in a hospital with a broken neck.

Me, I’ll happily bleed at the post game kegger.

And figure the odds I’m going to apologize to some effete college snowflakes for my “racism.”

“…vice president for institutional equity and diversity.”

I see the problem.