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Announcement :: Protest Activity |
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Boycott Firehaus! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Martin Smith
Email: send2smith (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!)
Phone: (217) 649-8830 |
05 Jun 2006
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Boycott Firehaus!
Bar/Restaurant condones harassment of anti-war customer by drunken bar patron.
...A drunken bar patron cornered me and began hurling epithets at me for wearing a tshirt in opposition to the war, following me to my table. When I reported the bar patron's conduct to the manager, I was simply told that this customer was a regular and that there was nothing the bar was willing to do. The hostile and threatening actions by the bar patron would not have been considered appropriate behavior under any other circumstance; however, I believe that because the patron was directing his epithets at me for wearing an anti-war tshirt, the manager consented and refused to remove the drunken patron from the bar. |
please forward widely!
Dear Friends:
On Monday, June 5, after a summer school session, several of my classmates and I decided to go to Firehaus at 708 S. Sixth Street, a bar/restaurant that has decent food and offers a nicer atmosphere than most Green St./campus bars. This particular evening, I was wearing a "U.S. Out of Iraq" tshirt that is one of the numerous anti-war shirts that I wear as a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and as a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Given the immoral war launched by the Bush administration and the thousands of needless deaths that have been lost for oil profits, my tshirt represents a small statement in opposition to the lies of our government and to the war crimes committed by the U.S. military at Abu Gharib and Haditha.
When I went to the bathroom on this evening, a drunken bar patron cornered me and began hurling epithets at me for wearing a tshirt in opposition to the war, following me to my table. When I reported the bar patron's conduct to the manager, I was simply told that this customer was a regular and that there was nothing the bar was willing to do. The hostile and threatening actions by the bar patron would not have been considered appropriate behavior under any other circumstance; however, I believe that because the patron was directing his epithets at me for wearing an anti-war tshirt, the manager consented and refused to remove the drunken patron from the bar.
The complicity of the manager in condoning this bar patron's actions should be seen as a serious threat to free speech and dissent in the campus community. The ability of bar patron to freely intimidate and harass customers in a bar/restaurant for wearing a tshirt is merely a step removed from the ability of persons to harass people on campus and in the broader Champaign/Urbana community.
I ask you to Boycott Firehaus and to refuse to give them your business. I also call on the general manager of Firehaus to train their staff in how to properly intervene in their customer's behavior if they exhibit hostile and threatening actions towards other patrons. All members of the Champaign/Urbana community should feel safe to voice their dissent through free speech in any appropriate venue. I will proudly continue to wear my anti-war tshirts and buttons, and I hope you will too!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Martin Smith |
This work is in the public domain. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by Ed
crazyhawk22 (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
06 Jun 2006
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From your story, you can also say that the patron was expressing his point of view. Throwing him out of the bar would be violating his freedom of speech. If comfort is your priority, then you might consider wearing a neutral T-shirt next time you enter their establishment. There is a reason why some restaurants have dress codes. There is a current story where a father is suing anti war protesters at his Marine son's funeral. I assume in that situation you would support the father -- since the protesters behavior is inappropriate to that solemn situation. I can also safely assume you supported the eviction of William Cook from an Illini basketball game a few years ago when his behavior was disruptive to the enjoyment of the other sports fans. Finally, I suppose you supported President George W Bush when he had his audience screened for potential protesters who might have disrupted his town meetings a few years back. Personally, I think suppressing someone else's right to speak freely is ill considered in all of these situations. |
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The Issue |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
06 Jun 2006
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Ed,
I read it again just to be sure that I understood what Martin was complaining about. It does NOT have anything to do with what was said, just with the aggressive and intimidating manner -- "hostile and threatening actions" -- in which it was said. There is a difference.
On the other hand, at a Bush rally, apparently simply wearing a shirt with the wrong message is grounds for expulsion. Aagin, that is vastly different than the relief that Martin wished, which was to simply have someone ask the aggressor not to engage in such behavior. One would think that anyone running a bar would generally not want ANY customer acting in such a manner no matter what the subject of the discussion that preceded it was. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by Mink!
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jun 2006
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Free speech is free speech but if you follow someone to their table and keep yelling, that crosses a line.
I don't think the guy who didn't like the shirt should have been tossed from the bar, but I also don't think that guy should have been allowed to hassle people at another table.
It's up to the manager to keep the tables from fighting. If someone insists on harassing a guy at another table and won't stop, THEN it's time for throwing out, and not for any opinions but for the intimidation.
If the dress code allows T-shifts, you can't say some T-shirts are offensive. If people at a neighboring table want to yell "hey you suck!" (or whatever) about the T-shirt, okay. But following the wearer to their table and continuing to engage? Not okay. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by David
dave (nospam) ucdnb.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
22 Jun 2006
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I don't like the Firehaus, I don't like people giving me a hard time because of my clothing or political views, either.
My solution? I stay out of the Firehaus.
Why don't I boycott the Firehaus for having pro-Bush, pro-war sentiment and bad management? Because I don't want those people hanging out anywhere near me. So I'd let them have their little section of town, otherwise I'm afraind they will seep into mine. If you'd like to shutdown the Firehaus, just remember... all those patrons (and the owner) are going to go elsewhere, maybe to a barstool near you. At least now you know one of the places where you SHOULDN'T GO if you want to avoid bigotry and idiocy.
I think this article, boycott, or whatever you call it is a little silly, I really wish it weren't on the IMC front page. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by wayward
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Jun 2006
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Yeah, I guess that claiming to "boycott" Firehaus would imply that I'd ordinarily love being in a loud bar with a bunch of drunk undergrads. No thanks. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by Apology needed
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Jun 2006
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wayward
(No verified email address) Current rating: 0
22 Jun 2006
Yeah, I guess that claiming to "boycott" Firehaus would imply that I'd ordinarily love being in a loud bar with a bunch of drunk undergrads. No thanks.
Just remember the majority of the people who fought in the trenches many years ago were not highly educated. They were the ones that earned you your right to voice your opinion. If it was not for them, you would be speaking a different language and unable to voice your opinion. Just because you are a Grad student that does not make you any better then them. Obviously, your education has not taught you respect for other. Just because the "drunken bar patron" was out of line, that does make it ok to be indignant towrds others. This sounds just like another form of racisim. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by wayward
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jun 2006
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Just remember the majority of the people who fought in the trenches many years ago were not highly educated. They were the ones that earned you your right to voice your opinion. If it was not for them, you would be speaking a different language and unable to voice your opinion. Just because you are a Grad student that does not make you any better then them. Obviously, your education has not taught you respect for other. Just because the "drunken bar patron" was out of line, that does make it ok to be indignant towrds others. This sounds just like another form of racisim.
Yeah, I'm so prejudiced against drunken bar patrons that I don't even believe that they should be allowed to drive. |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by david
dave (nospam) ucdnb.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jun 2006
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I know! Let's recruit the dullards from the Firehaus to go fight in the "trenches" in Iraq so the military recruiters don't have to spend quite as much time targeting poor communites who's youth never got the chance to piss away a perfectly good college education sitting on a barstool! Thanks mom & dad! |
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Re: Boycott Firehaus! |
by Ricky Baldwin
baldwinricky (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
24 Jun 2006
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Excuse me, Mr/Ms "Apology Needed", but the people who really made sure we had rights to free speech and association, etc, (to the extent that we do have them) were not mainly those poor guys dying and getting sick and going crazy in trenches (among them several of my family). The ones who are most responsible for fighting attacks on our freedoms and occasionally gaining more freedoms are the very ones who get the least credit for it: activists. Thank them, honor them, if you love your freedom. |
