We as consumers can sometimes forget who really holds the power when it comes to commerce. Us. It’s time that we reclaim our power, starting with the boycott of notoriously racist establishment Monica’s Bar & Grill, located at 881 Bloor St. West in Toronto. The latest installment of atrocious behavior comes from an Instagram video posted by Toronto-native Nadine Stillman, shot after her and two friends noticed that Monica’s was still open in spite of being refused service hours earlier, with staff saying that it was closing time:
“We were there at around 10 to grab a shot before my friend’s art show,” says Stillman (who filmed and posted the video above), confirming that they initially stopped into Monica’s on Wednesday night to get a drink before attending an art event nearby. The staff at Monica’s refused their entry, saying they were closed for the evening, in spite of being visibly and fully operational with at least three (white male) patrons sitting at the bar, Stillman reports. Confused and dumbfounded, the three friends took their business elsewhere and continued on to the show. After it let out at approximately 1:00 a.m., three hours after their first attempt to patron Monica’s, the women noticed the bar was still very much open. Unfortunately, there was but one disgusting conclusion to be drawn: they were turned away on account of their race.
“When I realized we were being discriminated against, it was hurtful and shocking, but unfortunately not that surprising,” notes Ace Dillinger, one of the two women in the video above.
This is not okay. This is not what Toronto is about.
After such a disheartening experience, these women decided to turn their hurt and discomfort into action and share their experience online, with hopes that the good citizens of The 6 would rally around them and refuse to patron such a poorly-run establishment. Upon taking to the internet for support, it quickly surfaced that this was not the first time the staff and management at Monica’s have acted in such an archaic and deplorable fashion. Take a gander at a small sample of the COUNTLESS reviews online over the years, describing shockingly similar discriminatory events, posted across Facebook, Yelp, and Google Reviews:
Why is this establishment still in business? It’s simple: they can pay their rent.
So to those of you who have cried helplessness, despair, and a lack of solutions in this current disastrous social climate, now is your chance to stand up.
If you live in Toronto or are visiting, tell your friends, your family, your family’s friends, and everyone you can to not spend a single dime at a place that chooses to treat certain people so poorly. Claim your power as a consumer, and prove that Toronto is a world-class city with no room for this level of asinine hatred.
Let’s do this Toronto.
SHUT MONICA’S DOWN.
Author’s note: at press time, Monica has still refused my calls and has yet to respond to my request for an interview. For integrity’s sake, I fully intend on updating this article should we speak.