When trendy goes wrong: In August, author Teri Woods, best known for her True to the Game street fiction trilogy, threw a party at the hard-to-get-into New York club Greenhouse to celebrate her new book Alibi.
Unfortunately, the majority of her 175 invitees couldn't get in. The reason? They're claiming racism.
But this isn't just talk. A one billion dollar class-action suit has been filed against the club according to the New York Daily News.
One of the plaintiffs, Kashan Robinson, told the Daily News, “They should have just put up a sign that said, ‘No Coloreds Allowed’. There was no reason for them to not allow us into that club, except for the color of our skin.”
Woods agrees and is apparently thinking of pursuing her own legal case. She told the paper that most of her black guests (which amounted to about one hundred people), including her family and friends, were denied entry while white invitees had been let in. Woods also said that she received text messages from the club's owner Barry Mullineaux that "had something to do with ‘your people’ and ‘fat’.
Naturally, Mullineaux disagrees with the claims and calls the charges “bogus.”
Even if the club's intentions weren't racist (although that would be hard to argue), I know if it was my book party, a sista would be hot. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't a conversation with management about door policies prior to Woods scheduling her launch party at Greenhouse.
Would I be billion-dollar hot? No. But hot nonetheless, and I would definitely seek some sort of retribution.
is a writer, speaker, author of books for adults and youth, and the book columnist for The Root. Her most recent book is \"The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs.\" Visit her at feliciapride.com.