BOSTON --- Massachusetts Attorney General, Martha Coakley, has filed a civil rights suit against a Dorchester pub, Peggy O'Neil's, for allegedly engaging in a "pattern of not allowing customers of color to enter and use the bar."
The lawsuit claims that the bar's staff and ownership "engaged in discriminatory and unlawful conduct" in December 2010 and April 2011.
According to the complaint, on December 17 co-owner Caron O'Neil allowed white customers to enter the bar but denied entry to two men of African-American and Cape Verdean descent, this after allegedly telling them that they should go elsewhere because she did not know them and she "did not want any trouble."
Later that same night, O'Neil allegedly denied access to another small group of minority individuals while allegedly telling them, "we don't like people of your kind here."
The suit also alleges that another group of African-Americans was turned away in April 2010 after being treated in a similar manner.
Peggy O'Neil's is situated in the Fields Corner area on Dorchester Avenue, which is a very diverse neighborhood of Vietnamese, African- Americans, Hispanics and Caucasians. The 50-year-old pub was named after the late mother of the co-owners, Caron and Tracy O'Neil, who are sisters.
Tracy O'Neil told the Echo last week that the allegations are false, and she referred all inquiries to the bar's lawyer, Nancy Hurley.
"They have an extremely diverse crowd most nights, and there's been no racial discrimination," Hurley told the Echo last Wednesday.
Hurley said that the bar's staff is selective about who comes onto the premises, especially in the early morning hours when other bars have closed.
"They sometimes have to deal with bad attitudes and intoxication, and they have to maintain a safe atmosphere and protect the customers," she said while declining to say whether any of the complainants were turned away because they were drunk or obnoxious.
"We'll be ready to defend our position at trial," she said.
The attorney general's lawsuit is seeking monetary damages, civil penalties, anti-discrimination training for the bar's staff, and the establishment of an anti-discrimination policy.
