Michael Thomas couldn’t get into Tiger Bar. The doorman denied him entry because his pants were too baggy.
Thomas, an African-American mathematics senior, didn’t think much of the incident at the time, but when he again was denied entry to Tiger Bar for his shorts being too long and to Reggie’s for wearing all white tennis shoes, he became suspicious.
“Well, you don’t have to be a fashion guru to know that baggy jeans and shorts hanging below the kneecap are trends explored almost exclusively by African-Americans,” Thomas said. “Moreover, Tigerland is infamous throughout the LSU black community for their ‘No FUBU, No Long Chains’ signs, two more fashion trends of the same type.”
The sign Thomas refers to hangs atop the door at Reggie’s and reads, among other dress code policies, “No Jerseys. No FUBU Shirts. No Excessively Baggy Pants. No Mr. ‘T’ Starter Kits. No All White Shoes. No Visible Beepers.”
Thomas is one of many students who believe he has experienced racial discrimination in Tigerland — the college hot spot, consisting of Tiger Bar, Fred’s, Dublin’s and Reggie’s. He, like many other students, believes the bars show prejudice through their dress code policies. Some officials agree that these policies could be seen as offensive, but they are not completely sure if the policies warrant legal action.
Melody Robinson, president of the LSU chapter of the NAACP, thinks the “No FUBU” policy is blatant racism because African-American designers own FUBU — a clothing line most prominent in the black community.
Robinson said to single out FUBU is suspicious because predominately black clubs “don’t have signs that read ‘No Gap’ or ‘No Abercrombie & Fitch.'”
Robinson also said the ‘Mr. T’ comment is disrespectful, because Mr. T is a black actor who wears excessive amounts of gold chains, and she believes the line mocks the black community.
“I honestly think this is saying, ‘We don’t want black people in our bars,'” Robinson said. “This is just another way to say, ‘We don’t want coloreds’ without saying ‘no coloreds.'”
Other bars in Tigerland seem to have similar dress code requirements, although bar owners would not verify the exact specifications. Tiger Bar and Reggie’s refused to comment on-the-record, and Bogie’s and Dublin’s could not be reached to confirm their policies. Fred’s initially spoke about their dress code policies but ended the conversation after their representative said a Reveille reporter was “antagonistic.”
Curtis Wilkie, an LSU professor who teaches about civil rights and the media, said, “Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, some business people have resorted to subtle messages to try to prevent blacks from being customers.”
Wilkie is not surprised by bars intentionally sending a message with their dress code.
“It’s been going on for 40 years. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a device used by business owners to try to get away with it without violating the law,” he said.
Wilkie said the discrimination is not confined to LSU.
“It’s not just in this state, you’ll see this stuff in Boston, Los Angeles and other places,” Wilke said. “The situation is much better than it was 40 years ago, but not everybody’s accepted the idea of equal rights regarding religion, color or ethnic background.”
Until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, minorities, including blacks, were excluded or segregated from places of public accommodation, including restaurants and bars, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Web site.
      Title II of the act states that, “All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”
As long as the bar is open to the general public, that facility is a place of public accommodation, according to Joe Cook, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisiana.
Cook said these civil rights laws prohibit Tigerland bars from discriminating against one group of people.
The language of some of the dress code policies “sounds suspect,” Cook said.
“It sounds like it could be discrimination, but this is nothing new. They used to not let blacks in at all,” he said.
Jim Boren, a Baton Rouge criminal defense lawyer with nearly 30 years of practice, thinks the policy is a violation of the First Amendment, which is to say the bars are interfering with a person’s freedom of expression, but according to Boren, “Private clubs can do that.”
All of the bars in Tigerland are privately owned, but because none in the area require membership, the clubs are not private establishments and therefore cannot discriminate against anyone as determined by Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Boren said Reggie’s dress code appears to be racially motivated, and if that can be established, they subject themselves to liability.
“I have little doubt in my mind that the code is racially motivated,” Boren said. “But whether there is sufficient evidence to convince somebody whether this is racially motivated really depends on the explanation.”
Boren also said that 30 years ago, if restaurant or bar owners did not want blacks in their establishment they simply said, “We reserve the right to deny service to anyone,” which according to Boren was just an excuse to not let black people in.
“As a lawyer, what you’ve got is something that raises my suspicions and makes me think that there is some evidence that they are discriminating against blacks,” Boren said. “But I don’t think you have enough evidence to file a lawsuit.”
Terry Calhoun, a political science sophomore, used to go to Tiger Bar all the time his freshman year, but he stopped going. He has had problems with the dress code there, and at other bars as well.
“At Reggie’s they told me my shoes were too white, and two seconds later, someone with the same white shoes got in, then I got into it with the manager,” Calhoun said.
He said his friends also were hassled when they tried to get into Reggie’s for an alleged dress code violation.
“They were let in after there shirts were tucked in,” Calhoun said. “After they got in, they saw many people with their shirts tucked out, so they decided to take their shirts back out, and they almost got kicked out.”
Similar stories exist with many other black students, including tactics employed by bar management and owners to keep blacks out via the music variety.
According to Robert Perry, an electrical engineering sophomore, Tiger Bar’s music selection is designed to discourage blacks from staying at the bar if they are granted entry.
“When nobody’s there on Tuesdays, there is a lot more black music,” Perry said. “On Thursdays, they play a lot more pop music that you can’t dance to.”
For centuries, Louisiana has been racially divided, and Baton Rouge has seen its fair share of the prejudice.
In 1953 Baton Rouge saw citywide bus boycotts by the black community because bus fares were raised and blacks were forced to sit in the back of the buses.
In 1960, at Kress Department Store in downtown Baton Rouge, seven black Southern University students held a demonstration at a lunch counter, which led to the first case that compelled the Supreme Court to overturn the conviction of a black person arrested for violating Jim Crow laws.
In spite of the dress code tactics used by some area bars to discourage blacks from attending, Robinson remains hopeful this sort of deep-rooted discrimination will end.
“I think as diversity grows, things will get better,” Robinson said. “Right now, I don’t think the area knows how to deal with it. This is just generations upon generations of prejudice that needs to be worked out.”