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TexasTowelie

(111,313 posts)
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 08:22 AM Jul 2020

A white restaurateur told a black customer not to wear an 'I can't breathe' shirt. Protests and a

A white restaurateur told a black customer not to wear an ‘I can’t breathe’ shirt. Protests and a boycott followed.


The closure of the local watering hole — maybe temporary, maybe not — started with a bright yellow T-shirt inscribed with three words: “I can’t breathe.”

Daryl Rollins bought the shirt in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in police custody in Minneapolis. Rollins, who is black, said he had never personally experienced discrimination until a recent Friday, when he wore the shirt while waiting in line at the Fish Market of Maryland in Clinton.

“You can’t wear that shirt in my establishment,” Rollins said owner Rick Giovannoni, who is white, told him, insisting he take the T-shirt off or turn it inside out.

The episode struck a nerve in Prince George’s County, a majority-black suburb of Washington where residents have long complained that they do not have the quality restaurants and retail establishments that thrive in neighboring jurisdictions.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/fish-market-maryland-i-cant-breathe/2020/07/09/c25b7c42-c062-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html
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A white restaurateur told a black customer not to wear an 'I can't breathe' shirt. Protests and a (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jul 2020 OP
He had every right to tell him he couldn't wear it underpants Jul 2020 #1
Sure. But nobody is saying he violated 1st amendment rights FBaggins Jul 2020 #4
And people have the right to boycott his racist ass. Ferrets are Cool Jul 2020 #8
That's true. underpants Jul 2020 #10
+1 Ferrets are Cool Jul 2020 #11
Sad to say, the restaurant owner has the right to do that. Just as SANE business owners Squinch Jul 2020 #2
underpants Jul 2020 #3
I don't have a subscription, so I could only read what you posted. BComplex Jul 2020 #9
Racist overtones to this lambchopp59 Jul 2020 #5
The fist amendment prohibits the govt and only the govt from stifling speech. ret5hd Jul 2020 #6
No. Same as stated above. YOU cannot violate anyone's 1st Amendment rights. 3Hotdogs Jul 2020 #7

underpants

(182,279 posts)
1. He had every right to tell him he couldn't wear it
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 08:29 AM
Jul 2020

Public accommodation covers who you are not what you do. It’s his restaurant so if he thinks his customers won’t like it or he isn’t on board he has every right to tell him to leave.

FBaggins

(26,697 posts)
4. Sure. But nobody is saying he violated 1st amendment rights
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 08:38 AM
Jul 2020

He has a right to, for instance, ban t-shirts with political messages on them...

... but he doesn’t have a right to your patronage. Protests/boycotts are not limited to legal infractions

Squinch

(50,774 posts)
2. Sad to say, the restaurant owner has the right to do that. Just as SANE business owners
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 08:29 AM
Jul 2020

have the right to demand people wear masks in their stores.

BUT, the community has the right to make sure Mr. Giovannoni loses all of his customers and goes out of business.

BComplex

(7,984 posts)
9. I don't have a subscription, so I could only read what you posted.
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 09:31 AM
Jul 2020

So I'm not sure what conspired later on.

By posts above, I can only assume the locals shut down his restaurant in a boycott.

lambchopp59

(2,809 posts)
5. Racist overtones to this
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 08:48 AM
Jul 2020

Outweigh the "right to refuse service" in this case IMO.
Bearer of the message likely seeking civil discourse on the subject, got the equivalent treatment of "go drink from the jim crow fountain".
Especially in the highly charged environment about this these days?
Oh, hell no.
Let's reverse the scheme here. If I told a "Trump 2020" hat wearer to remove that in my establishment, I'm violating that person's first amendment rights, regardless how uncomfortable the person's obvious viewpoints made me feel. As long as the MAGAt remained within civil behavior during his business there.

3Hotdogs

(12,210 posts)
7. No. Same as stated above. YOU cannot violate anyone's 1st Amendment rights.
Fri Jul 10, 2020, 09:00 AM
Jul 2020

The government can. A person can't.

A business may be a different matter. When Katzenbach won the civil rights case, it was based on the Interstate Commerece clause. Discrimmination causes less commerce. The government is 'posed to promote commerce.

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