Marcia Grant, a black woman, is suing the Baltimore Restaurant for $150,000 in damages. She claims that the restaurant denied them service due to her 9-year-old son’s outfit, alleging they were disallowed solely due to their race.
A video was posted on Twitter last month on June 21. A manager at Ouzo Bay told Marcia Grant that the Baltimore restaurant couldn’t serve her and her son due to the boy’s athletic shirt, which is against the formulated dress code.
Baltimore Restaurant vs Marcia Grant
According to, Marcia’s attorney, Donte Mils, the footage showed another white kid nearby who was wearing a shirt similar to that of the black kid. The white kid was surprisingly allowed to eat at the Greek seafood spot.
Mills told the NY Post on:
The effects of this will last for the rest of his life. Imagine now, a 9-year-old child has been told he wasn’t good enough because of the color of his skin. In the future, when he walks into rooms, will he feel inadequate?
After the incident, the Atlas Restaurant group said that it was sickened by the behavior of the manager. The group had put the manager on indefinite leave. The Baltimore Sun reports that he and the second manager were then fired.
Grant expressed the plausible impact of the incident on her by saying,
This is something that he’s going to have to live with for the rest of his life. It doesn’t heal like a wound would.
But in a statement issued on July 2, the Atlas Restaurant group said that the dress code is equally applicable to everyone irrespective of their race. The group called on Grant as she released a full 10-minute video of the incident on social media.
Meanwhile, Grant’s suit claimed that there was no distinction between her son and the white child’s outfit who was granted service in the restaurant.
An attorney for Atlas, Scott Marder, claims all customers must adhere to its dress code “regardless of their race” and has accused Grant of going on an “orchestrated media tour” — an apparent reference to her appearance on “Good Morning America,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
Also, anchor Michael Strahan invited Grant’s son, Dallas, to dinner.
Grant told the anchor, “I can only imagine it was based on the fact that Dallas was black.”
A spokesman told the Sun that the Atlas Restaurant Group is retraining its staff. It’s also forming a social responsibility board.
“We will continue to reinforce our commitment to equity, fairness, and inclusion for everyone,” spokesman Joe Sweeney said in a statement.
Attorney Donte Mills told that Dallas is quite shaken with the incident and can’t get out of it.
After his discussion with Dallas, the attorney said, “He wants people not to be racist. Because when you’re racist, you can hurt people’s feelings. It’s harmful, it’s hurtful, and that’s the effect he took from it. You feel like you’re not enough — and to make a 9-year-old feel that way, that’s unimaginable.”
Another protest is underway in downtown Baltimore Friday evening. Protesters are vocal and asking those inside not to dine here.
