Poke Poke restaurant manager allegedly racially profiled and threw chair at a Black customer

A white restaurant manager is now in the hot seat after he threw a chair at a Black customer because of his preconceived notions about the customer’s race.

Matthew Feezy who manages a Poke Poke restaurant in Chicago has been suspended for his actions towards a black customer. Feezy admitted he threw a chair at the customer named Kyle because of previous unfortunate encounters with two black guys. He later confessed he was wrong in a social media video and explained why he did what he did.

"I'm not trying to be racist."

FEEZY'S SIDE OF THE STORY

Feezy insisted he was not being racist when he explained his side of the story to Kyle in a video taken outside of the restaurant after the incident.

“This is the second time in a row, third time in a row. Two days ago — and I’m not trying to be racist — two black guys robbed two people right here.”

When Kyle questioned why Feezy threw a chair at him, he replied,

“No, listen, three days ago, I had two more black guys. I actually fought them in here. … They tried threatening one of my employees, and I had to fight them. When you guys came in here, I just got really f***ing defensive, really defensive because I had to fight them off all the time. These security guards over here don’t do a thing.”

Feezy continued and admitted he was wrong for throwing a chair at Kyle and apologized.

“I feel badly. That was just my first instinct because I’ve had to deal with fights here, which I shouldn’t. I legit thought we had to fight.”

He added,

“As a human being, man, I shouldn’t have done that s***. I knew it was wrong. I’m not going to lie, man. Yo, I’ll look in here (at the camera). I had to fight three people at my restaurant the other day, so I thought I had to fight some more people, so s***, I freaked out.”

THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACTIONS

Regardless of Feezy’s remorse, he was suspended for his actions pending an investigation. The management of Poke Poke also issued a statement condemning the incident.

“We do not tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind,” it read.

“How our manager reacted to the situation was absolutely unacceptable and against what we stand for. As such, we are fully cooperating with law enforcement on the matter, and we have suspended our manager pending the completion of the police investigation.”

“There are no excuses for what happened to Kyle and for that we apologize.”

Meanwhile, community activist Ja’Mal Green who shared the video called for a boycott of Poke Poke.

BLACK DOCTOR SECOND GUESSED

This is far from the first time a black person has been doubted for simply being black. On an airline flight, Doctor Fatima Stanford’s medical credentials were also questioned by a member of the flight crew when she tried to help a passenger who was having a panic attack. Stanford believed she was being questioned because of her race. Despite providing her id, the airline staff didn’t believe her and left to confirm it. Upon her return, she told her she was not really a doctor.

This angered Stanford who raised her concern on social media and wrote directly to the airline to complain. The airline later responded and told her they would look into the matter. But the harm had already been done.