1st degree verbal assault and battery hate crime at Applebees

[PC GURU]

Hello doc at freebsd.org, 

Happy New Year to you.

Well, I ended 2004 by being called a "nigger" several times by a white terrorist in APPLEBEES on December 30.  The reason I'm posting you is to seek your advice as to what rights I have in a violent verbal assault,  and hate crime situation like this. What would you do if something this devilish had happened to you? 

This is the second time this has happened to me in the same Applebees. The first time was about five years ago when I overheard a professional person  using the "N" word to a white woman friend of his as they sat across from me at the bar. 

She was telling him that she had found a new boyfriend and thought that things were going to work out well for her. The fellow looked at her and then said "I hope he's not a "nigger" I was astounded that he had said something so lowlife in a full club with about 20 people sitting at the bar and the rest of the tables nearby full as well. 

The bartender had been living with an African American male for over five years at the time. She looked astounded, and turned to me as if she couldn't believe her ears. I turned to the white people on each side of me, and asked them if they were going to say something to the person. They are always saying that they are not prejudiced. so this would have been the perfect time for some of them to back up their words with action.

 They did nothing! They just looked at each other in that silly "HUH Head" look that they utilize when they run into an idea that they had never considered before on the subject of race. The manager did come out and ask him to leave. He did so and to my knowledge he has never gone back. I have seen the fellow in other clubs where the clientele is more receptive to his modo di pensare. I did nothing official that time. This time I'm trying to determine what the best way to proceed would be. Here are most of the facts as to what occurred last Thursday, the 30th of December 2004.

I went out to Applebees here in Cape Girardeau, Missouri around 2100. I sat on the north end of the bar next to several young white women. One of them was named "VanMater" from the Buick family here. I talked to them about various subjects for about 30 minutes and bought them some Frangelico. They had never tasted it so I thought I would let them sample something different since they were kind enough to talk to me a 58 year young African American. Most whites won't.

Then they left and a friend of mine from Birmingham Alabama called me on his cell phone. We talked for about fifteen minutes about the state of the world and how savage, and inhumane so many Americans are in their thinking when it comes to how they view others around the world.

Out of the corner of my right eye, I notice the young blond white woman to my right pushing a picture of a cute bi-racial child towards me. I picked it up and looked at it. Then I complimented the female on having a little girl that was so cute. After a few more minutes of talking to my friend, I hung up and started talking to the young blonde white woman, her female friend next to her, and her Canadian boyfriend to her right.

The blonde's name was what it is. She said she was a hair stylist at a salon here.  I was telling them about how my cousin owned the Harlem Globetrotter basketball team, and how there had been a couple of streets named after my mothers family around here. I was basically giving them a quick history on some black folks who were highly respected in this area.

After about twenty minutes or so this 40ish white ball cap wearing, truck driver looking white fellow across the bar asked me when we had graduated from high school. I told him when I had graduated, and then N told him when she graduated. The white supremacist then said "One of you is right, and one of you is a fucking nigger"

 I picked up my cell phone and called the police as the Applebees manager was not on the scene. I had no idea what that piece of white trash would do next. After a few minutes Ed, the manager came over to the WS, and told him that he had to leave the club.

The fellow got up and slowly walked toward the door selling wolf tickets all the way. The policeman arrived and he stood in the vestibule and talked to the manager of Applebees. He never came over and asked me anything; nor did he advise me of my rights in that situation.

I'm one of the charter members of Applebees here. I have been going there since about six months after they opened in 1991, and I've never had a serious incident like this one 

So I went back to talking to the three people. Now of course we were talking about the white supremacist and his actions. One white 20ish female caught my eye, grinned and gave me the thumbs up sign. Apparently she was happy that he was gone.

 After about 20 minutes, another young white female stopped behind me and told me that the fellow was still in the parking lot in his truck. None of the other white men there, except for the canadian fella I was talking to had anything positive to say to me, and they said nothing to the WS who started the whole incident. Why am I not surprised?

 So I called the police department again. I relayed the information to the police and sat back once more. After a few minutes the officer arrived and for the second time, the Applebees manager met him in the vestibule, and they talked for a few minutes. Again, the policeman never came over to talk to me at all. Now I really felt something odd was going on because I'm the one doing the calling, but no one wants to talk to me. Is that normal police procedure now across the USA?

Nicole was very quiet while the white guy was calling me a nigger. She got on her cell phone and called her biracial boyfriend and told him to come by. The other couple got 
Up and left after a half hour or so. Then this attractive light skinned black man about 25 came in and Nicole snuggled up in his arms as he sat down beside her.

She told him what had happened and he began telling us what all behind he would have kicked had it been done to him. He told me he was a criminal and didn't play that sort of mess. The more we discussed it the more they seemed to try to blame me for everything. I asked Nicole why she had become such a chatterbox now that her black boyfriend had arrived. She laughed and said that she felt safe now. They continued spewing out all sort of nonsense about race that mentally confused Bi-racials, and uninformed Caucasians tend to do. So after fifteen minutes of listening to their ignorance, I told them I had to go. I wished them a happy New Year and walked outside to the parking lot.

I saw the truck was still there. So when I left I drove around town in a random manner for about fifteen minutes to see if I was being followed. When I felt that I wasn't I headed on home and called it a night. I decided to stay home for New Years eve as I didn't want to run into any more of these beer drinking, ball cap wearing rabid, mad dog, psychotic folks like I had the night before. I didn't want to start the New Year being a victim, or being in jail for harming some piece of trash.

I haven't heard anything at all from Applebees yet. I'm not surprised however. They didn't say or do anything when I called them about the first incident.

So there you have it. What should I do in this situation? What are my rights? I've emailed Applebees twice, and spoke to them twice, but so far they have done nothing.

I think an apology is owed and reparations should be given.

I would really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes of your time to think about this and then email me back with your suggestions if you think there is a fair and just remedy for me here.

Amicably Yours


If you have a  interest in being helpful to me then,
email me at clb6969 at charterinternet.com

So mote it be