ACLU of Northern California attorneys Abre' Conner and Novella Coleman

Helpful tip to American businesses: Sometimes the two black Americans you're trying to kick out of your establishment for ambiguous reasons turn out to be civil rights attorneys.

Attorneys Abre’ Conner and Novella Coleman went to a [Fresno, California] bar called Brig. The two women were hoping for a night of karaoke and planned to sing the R&B classic, “Waterfalls,” by TLC. “But before our song was called, a bar employee came up and said we had to buy drinks to sing karaoke,” they wrote on the ACLU’s website. “Another bartender lunged at us within inches of our faces and shouted ‘Buy drinks!'”

When they pointed out that they had already bought drinks, they were told to buy more drinks. When they pointed out that they were being asked to obey a drinks rule that was clearly not being applied to the bar's other, white patrons, they were escorted off the premises by police officers. Both women work for the ACLU.

The bar maintains that they have a standing policy that you have to have a drink in front of you in order to stay on the premises, but their regular patrons don't seem to be backing them up on that one.

Conner said that once cops arrived, other customers rallied to their defense, saying the allegedly racist rule didn’t exist on other nights. She said patrons also tried ordering drinks for the attorneys so the bartenders would let them stay, but The Brig still allegedly refused the women service.

And so America trundles onward, in the year 2016. Oh, we're doing swimmingly. Really a banner year for us all around, I think.