Racist/Prejudiced Experiences in Chicago?

I am just wondering if anyone has a personal story about any racist or prejudiced treatment they received in Chicago. This weekend , my friends and I were walking down North ave trying to find a good bar/club to go to. My black friend could not get into this one club because his pants wer too baggy. In fact they were even dress pants with dress shoes and sports coat (he had just come from a wedding). My friend is a sociology major so this intriqued her. She had her white male friend come out of a bar he was already in and try to get into this same club that my friend had been denied entrance into. This white male was wearing dark blue baggy jeans and was allowed entrance. We did not say anything to the bouncer but we were all very upset. Should this be reported? Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Racist/Prejudiced Experiences in Chicago?
Chicago is interesting in the sense that if you don't look like you belong, its made very clear to you. I think you should contact the manager and if they don't handle it, go to the City department that handles liquor licenses and also possibly contact the alderman in that area. It gets people's attention pretty quickly.





Also, be sure to find out who the actual owner of the building is, not just the "owner" of the club. Tell them what is going on, and be sure to bring it to the attention of promotions groups in the area and to DJ's. Word can travel fast, especially if its not good.





Whether you're black, white or whatever, if you don't look like you should be there (although that doesn't seem to be the case in your situation- the bouncer just seemed to be a racist prick), you will be subject to different treatment. For example, I'm white, but have a plethora of friends- many of whom are black and latino. I've been pulled over in the West side for being white, harassed in humbolt park when I didn't blend in enough, and blatantly disrespected and called awful names because I'm white at a "black" or "latino" club.





The racism in Chicago runs both ways, and be sure to remember that.





Do what you must to bring this crap to attention though. Because if no one does anything, it will continue without any resistance. Good for you for speaking out.
Reply:Not only should you and your friend report this but you and your friends should sue this club as well. That's not fair what happened. sadly,these types of things does go on. I'm rich and it happens to me to. I was in New York shoe store. I didn't realize at the time that I was the only black person in there. I had two boxes of shoes in my hand and it didn't cost much. Totaling about $4,000.00.The white woman racking up shoes stared at me the whole time. I didn't realize what she was doing until one of my body guards told me. They all looked at us in disgust. I felt so ashamed to the point that I felt like I had stole something while purchasing my two boxes of shoes. Once I payed for my purchase the salesman threw my platinum card back at me. Even though I am dark skin you would think that they would treat me better than that since I'm wealthy. When I got home and told my mother she said i should of just walked out of the store. For now on when I'm feeling discriminated against im just gonna walk out of the store. I just hate how they thought that i was gonna steal something.I have never felt that way before. Even tough you experienced a different situation I know how it feels.
Reply:A couple of years back I went to go see Bones (Snoop Dogg's horror movie) at a movie theater I always go to and I kid you not, my friends and I were heckled by EVERY black person in the theater for being white. Even the black people as old as my parents were making rude comments at me. It's not like I was in a theater that was in an all black neighborhood where it would be odd to see a few white kids at the show, it was in at 600 north Michigan, right in downtown Chicago.





There also used to be a tiny little Hispanic grocery store down the street from me that I shopped at a few times. Once I had the gaul to call there to see if they carried Coke or Pepsi and they hung up on me for speaking English. I called back because I thought it was a mistake or something, and they hung up on me again! Then they just flat out refused to pick up the phone.





So yeah, there are racist people all over the place. I happen to think that the "segragation" in the city is in a way a good thing. Would there be a Chinatown if whites, blacks, and hispanics all moved into the neighborhood? No. That's why we don't have an Italian neighborhood in Chicago anymore, we have a street. "Segragation" is a bad word, here people are just living how they're comfortable and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Reply:This is not my own personal experience, but that of a friend from high school (a black male) who had a pretty bad experience with a cop from out here in the 'burbs-big shock there, right?


I knew this guy since third grade, and he was always a really nice guy. One day he borrowed his mom's car, I think it was a Lexus, so it was not a cheapo car, to drive some of his friends home after basketball practice. They were pulled over for--get this--mob activity! Apparently it was illegal for 4 or more people to be in a vehicle together. No one was really able to wrap their heads around that, since it was highly unlikely that a group of white kids would be stopped for that. The cop proceeded to perform an illegal search on the vehicle, not believing my friend when he said it was his mom's car and he had permission to use it. The cop assumed it was stolen. While he searched the car he kept saying "I know I'm gonna find drugs or guns in here." Of course he found no such thing. He eventually had to let them go. But to the best of my knowledge no action was ever taken against the cop.
Reply:Yes, as was said by the other person, Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the U.S. I've lived in the Chicago area my whole life and people can be pretty racist. Usually you just notice little things like not getting jobs when you go to an interview and are just as, or more qualified than the next person, retail sales people following you around, etc. But these are things that happen in all cities.





Once my sister said that her and some friends were downtown and some homeless lady was shouting at them telling them to "go back where you came from" and they weren't behaving unruly or anything. My sister and her friends are not even like that. They carry themselves very respectably.





Of course, those types of things can happen anywhere but the fact that there is a significantly obvious geographic racial divide in Chicago (Whites North of Downtown, Blacks south of Downtown, and a mixture of Blacks and Mexicans West of Downtown) show that Chicago has a serious issue with racism. Unfortunately, it seems that the issue is never really addressed. Everyone just wants to talk about how great the museums and the food are.
Reply:Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in America. Very few neighborhoods are what is considered "diversified." They are mostly divided by race. When a person of color moves to a "white" neighborhood, the entire white population leaves. Look at Bellwood or Franklin Park or Oak Park or Austin as examples.
Reply:Yes LittleGreen. Your friend was pulled over for DWB) Driving While Black.



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