Atlanta Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins recently made headlines after he revealed how he was a victim of racial discrimination in a posh restaurant in Atlanta. According to Wilkins, he was rudely turned away by French bistro Le Bilboquet for the “color of his skin.”
Wilkins' story garnered national attention with Le Bilboquet receiving a ton of criticism for their allegedly racist act. This has prompted a public apology from the establishment as they took to Twitter to address the alarming situation in their restaurant:
https://twitter.com/LeBilboquetAtl/status/1396925643116400642
“We, at Le Bilboquet, do our best to accommodate all of our guests,” read the statement (h/t Ryan Gaydos of Fox News). “However, we have received consistent complaints from our patrons regarding other guest’s wardrobe choices. As a result, to protect our restaurant’s culture, we installed a minimum standard in our ‘business casual’ attire dress code which includes jeans and sneakers but prohibits baseball caps and athletic clothing including sweat pants and tops. Though the definition of ‘casual’ is ever evolving, we strive to maintain our policy requirements daily but it isn’t a perfect system.”
The statement went on to provide a detailed list of how they intend to resolve the issue in their establishment, which includes the re-training of their employees. We also learned that it wasn't only Wilkins who has been victimized by racial prejudice in Le Bilboquet with numerous customers also airing their poor experience with the establishment all over the internet.
For his part, Dominique Wilkins accepted the apology from the restaurant, while also expressing his appreciation for the support he has received amid the scandal:
A first step.
This is a testament to the power of all of you. My fans and everyone from #atlanta You are why this change is happening. Together we can have a impact #TrueToAtlanta #change https://t.co/h3GVColzS1— Dominique Wilkins 🏀 (@DWilkins21) May 25, 2021
As Wilkins said, this development is a significant win in the fight against systemic racism. It may not have a huge impact on the lives of African Americans across the country, but the fact that it has garnered national attention — and of course, an apology from an established restaurant — goes to show that there is indeed progress.
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