A Portland woman has filed a lawsuit against a local restaurant, claiming the place she had frequented with her white colleagues treated her differently when she and her family, who are black, came to the restaurant.

Krystal Menefee filed a complaint Tuesday against Thatcher’s Restaurant and Lounge, alleging racial discrimination. Menefee doesn’t seek any money but is requesting a jury trial to determine whether Thatcher’s discriminated against her.

Thatcher’s has not yet responded to The Oregonian/OregonLive’s requests for comment.

In the complaint, Menefee alleges that she and her family members were treated differently than all the other customers in the restaurant, who were white. Menefee told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she and seven family members had come to Thatcher’s on Aug. 23 after going to a celebration of life for her uncle, who had recently died.

Menefee said the family had just paid for some songs on the jukebox and were having some drinks when they heard the bartender turn off the music and loudly tell someone to “knock it off.”

She said they figured out she was talking to them, and they asked her to put the music back on — but the bartender told them that they were making other people uncomfortable.

“We asked this couple nearby if we were bothering them, and they said no,” Menefee said. The bartender turned the music back on, but a few minutes later, Menefee said, she turned it off again.

“She says, ‘You’re not welcome here. You need to leave,’” Menefee said. She and her family left the bar to the stares of other customers — all white.

Menefee said she has frequented the bar with her colleagues and has never before encountered the treatment that she did when she was with her family.

“We drink, laugh, joke, we’re being loud,” Menefee said. “We’ve been there dancing on tables, had impromptu karaoke sessions — nothing. Then I’m in there with my black family and it’s ‘Get out.’”

In the suit, Menefee alleges that Thatcher’s discriminated against her and her family solely because of their race and caused them to feel “shocked, embarrassed and racially profiled."

Menefee’s attorney, Michael Fuller, said shortly after Menefee left the bar, she posted on Facebook about her experience, and several people responded saying that they had had similar experiences there. The business’ comments section on Facebook also has about five other comments from people in the past month who said they had experienced or observed racial profiling there.

Fuller said he had argued three “shopping while black” cases in the past year, including against Walmart and J.C. Penney Co. He said these types of incidents happen much more frequently than they get reported.

“It’s usually really easy for big companies to come up with a pretext,” he said. “I’d say what we have found that it’s a failure to supervise — often companies have policies but aren’t implementing them."

Jason Kafoury, an attorney at Portland law firm Kafoury & McDougal, said the firm gets several racial discrimination complaints each year but in the 10 years he’s worked there, only six or seven have gone to trial.

“What I find is that Portland jurors will find that yes, there was a false arrest. They’re even willing to do punishment on that false arrest,” he said. “But it’s hard to find racial discrimination.”

He said he thinks many people in Portland are unwilling to admit that there’s racism in a city often associated with being progressive.

David Hess, a paralegal for Kafoury & McDougal, said they’ve seen more reports of subtle racism in false arrest cases, where store employees will claim they have footage of black customers stealing. When confronted, he said, they won’t have the footage and will chalk it up to mistaken identity.

“They’re expected to not call people out on it,” Hess said of victims of racial profiling. “But you want to bring attention to it.”

Unlike the racial discrimination cases Kafoury & McDougal have dealt with, Menefee doesn’t seek any money in her suit but instead wants to draw attention to discriminatory behavior that she and others have faced.

Hess said generally, they are suing large corporations, such as H&M and Walmart. Clients often seek hundreds of thousands of dollars in those settlements.

“Corporations only understand one language — money,” Hess said. “If you really want them to change and take notice, you need to make them pay.”

Menefee said while many people of color likely face similar treatment, it’s unlikely most would seek legal action.

“I think it’s so normalized — people become desensitized to being treated badly,” Menefee said. “Someone will follow you at the store, or people will put your money down on the counter but put it into someone else’s hand.”

Menefee said her goal in filing a suit is to draw attention to a problem and help change a cultural attitude.

“I feel like people are very comfortable with treating black people like this,” Menefee said. “I want them to know it’s not OK — we’re here, we’re visible. Don’t negate us.”

Menefee said she’s not sure what the outcome of the case will be, but she’s not sure if she’ll return to the bar where she was once a regular.

“If the practices change, and more people of color feel welcome there,” she said. “But at this point, no. I don’t want to be treated like that again.”

—Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR

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