THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE FOLLOWING was my experience at a Corporate Area restaurant on Saturday, September 29, 2001. This establishment is of international renown, is owned and operated by a Jamaican and was the venue of my public humiliation at the hands of the proprietor.
I am a haulage contractor from Portland and I am employed at Eastern Banana Estates in St. Thomas. On the day in question I journeyed to Kingston with my sister and an employee to purchase material for the repair of my bus. During the course of the morning, the vehicle we had hired to haul the material developed mechanical problems on Waterloo Road. I subsequently became separated from my party, who were unaware of my plight in the disabled vehicle.
I had two weeks previously been discharged from the University Hospital of the West Indies. My liver failure, it was suspected, may have been linked to my sickle cell condition. Then and even now, my medication, rigid diet and frequent hospital visits are efforts to reverse the condition or at least stabilise it so that I may undergo a liver biopsy. Suffice to say, my state of health is at best, tenuous.
In order to have a meal and take my medication, I approached the restaurant in question, to be accosted by the proprietor. In no uncertain terms I was told to get away as that was not the place for me. Dumbfoundedly I left.
A meal was, however, graciously prepared for me in a neighbouring restaurant in the same complex. My thanks to the gentleman and lady there, whose consideration ensured that my meal was appropriate.
While returning to the disabled vehicle, it began to rain. As 'sicklers' suffer 'crisis' attacks if wet for prolonged periods, I had to seek immediate shelter.
Unfortunately, the nearest shelter was the restaurant from which I had been sent away. True to form, as I approached, the proprietor demanded that I go elsewhere as there was not a public thoroughfare. Not even the falling rain and my indication of my swollen ankles (due to my recent condition) solicited sympathy. Rather, I was brusquely told that the proprietor was not responsible for my 'sick foot'.
Two male employees who were duly summoned positioned themselves on either side of me, but despite my humiliation and the atmosphere of intimidation, I demanded a reason for the treatment being meted out to me.
Strangely, I wasn't thrown out. This would have been easy enough considering my slim frame. Did they realise by my deportment that they had blundered?
Why hadn't the proprietor heeded the suggestion of a diner, not to make an issue of the matter, and to allow me out of the rain?
The proprietor later told my sister that I had been directed elsewhere, as it was thought that I wished to have a 'Jamaican' meal. On what basis was this conclusion arrived at?
Isn't it my prerogative to choose my meals? Once I follow the guidelines of my diet plan, I am still able to enjoy meals from all our local ethnic groups.
Was I in breach of the establishment's dress code? The matter never arose.
Later, at my sister's request, a chair was placed for me at her table in the restaurant. I was also allowed to climb the stairs that earlier had not been a public thoroughfare. I was even greeted as 'Sir' by individuals who earlier, had been distinctly hostile.
All this the proprietor observed from a distance.
I paid my sister's bill of three thousand dollars ($3000) and we left.
Last year, I took a visiting relative and seven British visitors to the complex and they dined at the restaurant in question. Could I be blamed for directing them elsewhere, during their recently concluded visit?
Three days after the incident, a prominent radio 'call-in' programme dismissed my sister's version of the incident as being secondhand, and subsequently requested that I call.
To date, though I called, I have not been given an opportunity to give my version. According to the producer, ours was clearly a case of miscommunication.
Is this an example of their unbiased, non-judgmental treatment of issues?
Despite promising to investigate the matter, six weeks later, I still await their promised call.
I have no hidden agenda. It is not my intention to tarnish another's reputation. In my experience, individuals usually accomplish this by their own needs.
What I demand is what is due to me, an apology from the proprietor of the restaurant, for the blatantly discriminatory treatment meted out to me and the public humiliation which I endured.
I am, etc.,
CRAFTON EMERSON McCREATH (Jr.)
Manchioneal P.O.
Portland
