Company Adjusts Nightlife Dress Code in Louisville
By Emmanuel N. Jackson, BET.com Staff Writer
Posted June 29, 2004 – If a downtown Louisville development company has its way, the following attire would be missing at outside street festivals and concerts:
Baggy jeans
Backwards baseball caps
Sleeveless T-shirts
Jerseys
And you might as well add to the list, Black youth, angry community activists allege.Advertisement
The policy is seen in some quarters as a way to demonize young Blacks who disproportionately wear the banned items. The area of retail shops and businesses along a cordoned off block, known as Fourth Street Live, opened three weeks ago.
“They were really stereotyping with this dress code, because they know that inner city youth and urban youth wear these jerseys,” the Rev. Louis Coleman, head of the Justice Resource Center, told BET.com Tuesday.
After Coleman and others demonstrated against the policy Monday, including the Kentucky American Civil Liberties Union, the Baltimore-based Cordish Company rescinded the ban against jerseys, saying they could be worn at nighttime events.
Zed Smith, director of operations for Cordish, denied that the policy targeted Blacks and added that "there were more White’s being turned away."
Louisville has a history of racial tension involving city authorities and the Black community. Recently, a city police officer was indicted in the death of an unarmed Black man and at least one Black man has been **** by police in each of the last five years.
City officials said they had nothing to do with the policy.
“Wait, wait, wait … let me back that up, the city has not imposed a dress code,” said Jay Blanton, a spokesman for the mayor. He said the city sold the parcel to the developer but still owns the street next to it. “Cordish has a development agreement which allows them to close off the road and establish a dress code.”
Beth Wilson, executive director for Kentucky’s American Civil Liberties Union, said she was certainly glad to hear about the compromise.
“Our point with this is that this is a public street. We don’t want to see people singled out … either because of their race or gender,” said Wilson.
Although this would affect Blacks, it seems that these days I see almost as many Whites dressed this way also.
It would, however, disproportionately affect young people, which is another discussion entirely. Holla!
This is still America. I don't like to see the sagging pants, and I damn sure ain't a fan of white t-shirts or jerseys. . . but that is the way younger people express themselves, and they have the right to do it.
Banning it from your club is one thing, banning it from outdoor festivals is plain ridiculous.
Folk better wake up and fight, we're moving toward a police state.
I don't think it's just black, cause white people who want to be black dress like that too. But it is taking away our freedom of speech and it is a public street so they have no right to do that. Freedom of speech is in the first amendment of the constitution so hey.
i agree with what what others have siad...i don't think it's right for them to tell others what to wear....at times i do get tired of seein all the stufff they tryin to ban but then again i like seein it cause it's who they r....
i agree wit errybody's comments on this topic. it dont make nobody's sense to tell somebody they cannot wear what they want to @ a public event. thats jus like us black folk tellin whites that we're gonna ban them from wearin highwaters that sit underneath their armpits and a collared shirt. am i right??
