W. Kamau Bell's Racial Profiling Experience At Berkeley Cafe Spurs Community Meeting
BERKELEY (KPIX 5) – Hundreds turned out for a discussion on racism in Berkeley on Friday night, two months after comedian W. Kamau Bell was racially profiled at a café.
It's not every day that hundreds pack a room on a Friday night to talk about racism. But that's what close to 300 people in Berkeley came here to do. So many people showed up, that the doors had to close early.
In January, Bell and his wife were on the patio of Berkeley's Elmwood Café when the comedian said a waitress shooed him away from the restaurant, believing he was bothering his wife.
"I was unfortunately I guess not surprised that things like that happen," Karena Montag, who attended the meeting, told KPIX 5. "Disheartened that it happened and want to be part of the, hopefully, solution."
Café owner Michael Pearce fired the waitress and worked with Bell and others to put Friday's event on.
Cameras were only allowed briefly inside the meeting.
At one point, Bell said, "People of color experience micro-aggressions or implicit bias every day. This is about knowing we can talk about it."
Pearce called what happened to Bell shameful. "I couldn't let it slide," he said. "Racism exists in Berkeley and it happens every day."
But Pearce said things can change. He announced a new program at Elmwood that would educate employees about racial bias at a time when it's needed most. The curriculum would also be shared with other businesses.