Shawn Bauck (25), claims he was subject to a racist rant from a waitress in an Estes Park, Colorado restaurant on March 2.
After being racially profiled at an Estes Park restaurant by a staff member, a Colorado man has taken legal action.
Shawn Bauck, 25, said that he and his girlfriend stopped by Cousin Pats Pub and Grill to grab a quick bite. But instead, they were subject to a racist spiel by a white waitress, who used the N word, made derogatory generalizations regarding Black people, and tried to justify police bias.
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Bauck, an environmental science major from the University of Colorado, was told by the unnamed woman during the March encounter that he appeared educated for a Black man. He stated that most Black people were gangsters and thugs.
Bauck stated that it seemed perfectly normal, and she decided to investigate the story of her friend, a racist cop from Aurora, Colorado. She was like, yes, my friend is racist but it makes sense that that would be the case, just to be around Black people like gangsters and wifebeaters. I was like, whoa!
Bauck took Bauck to Patrick Beard to file a formal complaint after the woman continued her rant.
Bauck stated that this dude was only five meters from me. I approach him and tell him, Hey, my waitress just started a racial rant about me and then said the N-word.
Bauck stated that Beard, instead of taking action against the situation, just shrugged it off and said "Oh, well, I have got to understand the context."
Bauck realized that he would not receive any assistance from the restaurant staff and filed a racial discrimination suit with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. This case is still pending.
Bauck stated that it is really disappointing that I will have to file the lawsuit in 2021. Some people in Colorado seem to have completely forgotten about the Civil Rights Act of 64, which was only on the books as federal law for 57 years.
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Jason Flores Williams, Baucks attorney, stated that the law, if anything, doesn't allow restaurant owners to ignore racial slurs used in their establishment by Black employees. We should not accept as a fact that a person of color leaves a restaurant without due process and with their heads down is part of our history.
An attorney representing Cousin Pats Pub and Grill responded to Denver 7 by stating that Bauck mischaracterized the encounter and that Cousin Pats does not discriminate against its customers.
Mr. Bauck and his lawyer have mischaracterized the conversation between Mr. Bauck, a server, according to the attorney. Cousin Pats' owner did not hear the conversation or take part in it.
The attorney said that the server was no longer employed at the establishment and insisted that the conversation didn't evolve into an attack on Bauck or discrimination.
Newsweek reported that Bauck learned that the server wasn't fired because of his complaint. Instead, she quit her job several months later.
Estes Park is used to such encounters like Baucks. This northern Colorado town is just one of many Sundown Towns in Colorado that are white-only areas that have codified racial separation. Their name comes from the signs that were posted warning people of color to leave at sundown.
Bauck created a GoFundMe account to pay his legal fees and continue to fight against racial discrimination at Estes Park, Colorado.
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TheGrio first published the article Black man files a racial discrimination suit against Colorado restaurant
