Study Finds Racism In New Orleans' Bourbon Street Bars

• New Orleans bar tab bias? Blacks charged $9, whites $7.50 [more]
  

Head to New Orleans' famed Bourbon Street any hour of the night or day and you'll find music, booze and a party atmosphere. If you're black, you run a better than even chance of also finding discrimination, harassment and price gouging, according to a new study. A study conducted by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center shows that blacks who go for a drink along Bourbon Street have a 50-50 chance of either having to pay more or being forced into ordering a minimum number of drinks. The study was done in the wake of the death of a black Georgia Southern student who suffocated after a scuffle with white bouncers outside Razzoo Bar and Patio. The organization paired black and white men -- dubbed mystery shoppers -- of the same type, body style, dress and manner, sent them into 28 Bourbon Street bars within minutes of each other to evaluate the treatment they received. In 57 percent of the bars, the black men received less favorable treatment than their white counterparts. In 40 percent of the bars, the black men were charged more for drinks. In 10 percent, they were told there was a drink minimum which they would have to buy, while the white men weren't. In 7 percent of the bars, the black men were told they would have to meet a dress code, while the white men dressed in the same fashion were not. Names of the bars in the study were not released. They will be notified of the findings and invited to workshops in May that will stress not only the laws but sensitivity training. "Why all the fuss over a little discrimination in nightclubs and bars?" said Fair Housing Action Center spokeswoman Diana Dunn. "Why? Because we don't want any more young black men killed in the French Quarter." [more]