Black Friends Were Allegedly Forced to Leave Restaurant After Seeing Fight

A Black woman was allegedly forced to leave a Virginia restaurant with a group of friends during a friendsgiving gathering, even though they weren’t involved in a fight that occurred between two other Black women.

Now, she and the NAACP are speaking out about what they describe as a case of alleged discrimination.

“I’m still shocked,” Shakoya Somerville-Holt told CBS affiliate WTKR of the incident earlier this month at the Cork and Bull restaurant in Chesapeake.

In a lead-up to Thanksgiving, Somerville-Holt joined her “sister circle” for what was supposed to be a night of “fellowship” and laughter at the popular steakhouse, according to the outlet. But the event quickly soured. 

The group of nine friends hadn’t even received their drinks when two Black women that they didn’t know got into a fight, ABC affiliate WVEC reported. 

A video shared by WTKR allegedly showed the two women in a physical altercation, who ended up on the ground before people, who appeared to be employees of the restaurant, stepped in. Immediately after the fight, Somerville-Holt said she and her friends were allegedly told by management that they had to leave, even though they hadn’t participated, according to the outlet.

When Somerville-Holt questioned if the entire restaurant was being closed for the night, she was allegedly given a shocking response.

“No, we’re just not servicing you all because y’all like to fight,” Somerville-Holt recalled being told, according to WTKR. Her group was the only one asked to leave the restaurant, the outlet reported.

That wasn’t the end of their humiliation. When the local police arrived to respond to the altercation, Somerville-Holt claimed that she was asked by management to provide a statement, according to WVEC. 

“The two women had already left, and when law enforcement arrived, the manager asked me to give a statement … we weren’t involved in this,” said Somerville-Holt, according to the outlet. 

For the woman and her friends, it was a scarring experience that has stuck with them.

“We definitely made memories, but those memories are memories of pain, hurt, embarrassment, confusion and humiliation,” Somerville-Holt told WTKR. 

Her lawyer and the Cork and Bull did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Cork and Bull Chophouse previously declined to comment to WTKR. According to the outlet, a manager said their attorneys have advised them not to issue a statement.

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Following the upsetting experience, the Chesapeake NAACP and Virginia State Conference NAACP have rallied around the group of friends, who are considering legal action, according to WVEC.

“To whomever it was that thought they had the authority to walk up to this group of women and direct them to leave with the response of ‘you people like to fight,’ should be immediately counseled, if not dismissed, and the restaurant should issue an apology,” Rev. Cozy Bailey, the president of the NAACP Virginia State Conference, told the outlet. 

For Somerville-Holt, it’s important to stand her ground against discrimination so no one else is subjected to such treatment.

“No one should be removed from an establishment or denied service when they’ve done nothing wrong,” she told WTKR, “and there should be some type of accountability, clarity, as well as prevention.”

Somerville-Holt added, “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else again.”