Liah Gant taking to reporters during a press conference. Screenshot : WXYZ Video

Welcome to 2019: Where our president is racist, our college campuses aren’t far behind, and black people are apparently still expected to give up their seat to white folks.


Huffington Post reports that on June 20, Lia Gant was at a J. Alexander’s restaurant in West Bloomfield, Mich., minding her black- ass business when she was instructed to give up her seat to a pair of white men. Clearly not having it, she refused to do so and had her drink poured out by a white bartender. Gant then approached a manager for answers, only to be told there was nothing to be upset about because the drink wasn’t thrown on her.



I did mention this is 2019, right?



The situation got even uglier when a black customer came to her defense, prompting a white patron to throw food at him and hurl racial slurs. Management then called the police and guess who they identified as the culprit during that phone call? The black guy.




In the aftermath of all this chaos, Gant posted videos on Facebook to corroborate her claims.

“Yesterday J Alexander’s protected a customer and employee after I (and several others) were discriminated against. This needs to end,” she wrote. “The Manager did not make the situation better, instead she told me to call someone else and she had to protect her employees. I was called out of my name several times as I was trying to exit. I was then told they snuck the thug out the back so he could avoid the police. Wow. This is me recording however I did not know this would come next. I just did not want the African American man attacked by the police, had no idea this was going to happen.”



In response to her mistreatment, Gant wants the restaurant employees terminated and has secured legal representation to ensure justice is served.




“This type of behavior is archaic racism, reminiscent of the black men and women of the 1950s,” Maurice Davis, Gant’s lawyer, said in a press conference. “Our civil rights leaders fought for over a century to secure and preserve black citizens’ right to have a seat at the table, and we refuse to backslide to a nation where black people are told to give up their seat to white people.”



He added, “J. Alexander refuses to take corporate responsibility for its employees’ actions and has not reached out to counsel.”




At the moment, Gant has no intention to sue and instead is doing her part to ensure no one else has a similar experience.



“Right now our primary focus is demanding the immediate termination of the J. Alexander employee that refused to serve our client,” Davis said.




In a statement to WXYZ, J. Alexander’s confirmed an investigation into the incident is underway.

