About 60 protesters return to Porch & Parlor
Demonstrators call for restaurant to close
About 60 protesters converged on the Porch & Parlor restaurant in Overton Square shortly before 8 p.m. Monday, after the original protest site — the Flight Restaurant & Wine Bar on Main Street — closed early to avoid a similar demonstration.
With at least four bullhorns in use, the protesters — in some cases only inches away from the diners located within the restaurant’s semicircular outdoor “porch” area — chanted, “Black Lives Matter!” and “Shut this s*** down!” Later, they briefly blocked the intersection of Madison and Cooper on the east side of what is Memphis’ most famous nightlife, dining and entertainment district outside of Beale Street.
Marking the 20th evening of marches, protests and civil disobedience actions in Memphis, the Monday protests marked a third trip to Porch & Parlor after a barrage of social media posts Friday accused Downtown’s Flight and Germantown’s Southern Social of racism and sexism. Porch & Parlor, Southern Social and Coastal Fish Company in Shelby Farms Park are all owned by Russ Graham and Tom Powers.
The protest moved into the intersection of Madison and Cooper at about 8:42 p.m., with demonstrators occupying the crosswalks that connect all four corners. Within minutes, seven squad cars with flashing blue lights appeared, but they did not interfere with the protesters. Instead, they strategically blocked the streets some distance from the intersection, to prevent oncoming traffic from confronting the protesters.
At one point a manager from Porch & Parlor brought out plastic bottles of water, which the protesters rejected.
“I’ll kick my own a** if I drink y’all’s plantation water,” said Shannon Bourne, 19, one of the leaders of the action.
The protesters, however, accepted water — and even lemon drops (the drink) — from a nearby restaurant, Local, at one point chanting a bit of consumer advice: “Go to Local!”
The outside area of Porch & Parlor was about half full when protesters lined up along the semicircular rail. Most of the diners tried to ignore the amplified messages, but one man confronted the group, in an extremely tense moment that was defused in part by the intervention of the Rev. Regina Clarke of the Memphis office of the Poor People’s Campaign, one of the leaders of the event.
Clarke said “dehumanization” was the link connecting police brutality and racist business practices.
“We are all created as human beings, but they try to dehumanize us,” Clarke said.
The protesters said they will continue to demonstrate nightly until Porch & Parlor shuts down.
Protesters left the intersection around 9:05 p.m. Monday.
Earlier Monday, Flight closed unexpectedly, surprising a steady stream of would-be diners who were disappointed to be greeted with locked doors instead of proffered menus.
“Just a call to say ‘We’re not gonna be open’ would have been nice,” said Tim Sutherland, 41, who had driven to Memphis from Munford with his wife, Elishia, to celebrate the couple’s first wedding anniversary at Flight, where they had booked a reservation the day before.
The owners of Flight released a statement Monday saying the restaurant is “deeply concerned” by online allegations
N A T I E N H S TG U T A R E R G Uof discriminatory practices and sexism.
“We are deeply concerned by the allegations we have read online,” the statement read. “As a leadership team we apologize if we have been insensitive in any way ....
“The management of Flight Memphis, LLC continues to review the accusations that have been posted online. We realize that we need to be reflective, to listen and to learn as we move forward.”
The statement added: “We are taking the time to be self-reflective and our first step is to determine if we need to make changes. We are currently pursuing diversity and inclusion training for the full staff and will continue to assess ways we can improve our customer experience and staff experience.”
Graham earlier said an investigation into the allegations would be conducted at Flight and Southern Social.
In response to charges that Flight made a practice of seating African American customers either in the back of the restaurant or upstairs so they would not be in view of people walking by on the street, Flight said: “We do want to address one allegation related to seating of African American guests. There has never been a policy or intent to seat any specific group in any specific location. The nature of our seating arrangements are that 64% of our dining room seating is located upstairs. It’s simply not true that we seat anyone based on race, parties are seated based on party size, at the request of the party and as available wait staff dedicates.”
Flight added: “Our commitment to customer service is what sets us apart from other restaurants in Memphis. We will continue to uphold our high standards of operation to ensure our customers receive the fine dining experience they have come to expect.”
Activists demand changes to boost Black youths
Monday afternoon, Black Lives Matter Memphis activist Pamela Moses stood in front of the Shelby County Jail and talked about being confined there.
“I’ve been trapped inside this building before,” said Moses, who spoke to a small crowd that gathered to call for an end to conditions that lead many people — and youths in particular — to wind up there.”
In one of the latest protests that have sprung up around Memphis and throughout the nation to call for racial justice after George Floyd was killed on May 25 by a Minneapolis police officer, BLM turned its focus to justice for Shelby County juveniles. About 30 people gathered for a rally at the jail, and then marched to the juvenile court building.
Moses said that a protest on behalf of Shelby County’s black youths was overdue.
Last year, after the Department of Justice released Shelby County from federal oversight for its treatment of juveniles, federal monitors found that significant problems remained, such as Black youths being transferred to adult criminal court at triple the rate of other Tennessee counties, and being denied due process.
“It’s time for us to protect our children,” Moses said. “We come here in peace, but we cannot continue to come out here without any change.”
But Moses, as well as activists such as Anya Parker, said that for that situation to change, the ills that feed into it, such as poverty, crime and blight, must be addressed.
“It’s very hurtful because I have three girls, and I’m a grandmother,” said Parker, who is running for the District 90 House seat currently held by John Deberry. “I have a grandson who will one day be walking these streets, and he deserves a fighting chance.”