Story changes in Mistral bias case

Story changes in Mistral bias case

David G. Yosifon

It began with a single allegation of racial discrimination, but has now escalated to accusations of lying and counter-charges of extortion.

In August of 1997, Ernest Wright, Anthony T. Wall and Melvin Love were denied entrance to the Mistral, a popular bar and restaurant in the South End. Everyone agrees on that. And that's about all they agree on.

Wright, Wall, and Love say they were told by a white manager, who they later identified as Jeffrey Gates, that the restaurant was full and that they could not be let in due to fire codes.

Leaving the restaurant without any sense of having been wronged, the three men say they then sat in their their car across the street, and to their astonishment, watched as several groups of white people were admitted to Mistral.

After watching for nearly a half-hour, Wright says the only other group they saw denied entrance contained a black man.

Wall, Wright, and Love concluded that they had been denied entrance because of their race, which is against the law, and so they filed a complaint against the restaurant with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Mistral owner Seth Greenberg denies any allegations of discrimination. He says the men were turned away because the restaurant was full, and that anyone who was let in after them must have had reservations.

For some, the Mistral saga has been a lightning rod for racial tensions in the South End, even giving rise to a demonstration outside the restaurant in February of 1998 led by South End activist Mel King.

But now emerges a new wrinkle to the story.

According to Greenberg, Mistral now asserts that it was not Jeff Gates, a white manager, who first denied the four men entrance that August night, but a "North African" employee by the name of Hicham Benbacer.

Benbacer has apparently now returned to his native Morroco, but before he left he filed an affidavit with the MCAD asserting that he, not Gates, rejected Wright and his cohort:

"I asked the three black males if they had bar or dinner reservations and they informed me that they had neither. I told them that it was crowded inside and if they would like to, they could put their names on the waiting list," Benbacer wrote in his affidavit.

Wright was livid when he learned of the change in Mistral's story, and says the restaurant is verging on breaking the law again:

"I don't believe they are going to come into court and say that -- then that would be perjury," Wright told the Banner.

Wright insists that it was Gates who first denied him and his friends entrance, and that they only spoke with Benbacer briefly after returning to the door the second time after having watched whites gain admittance.

Gates' own affidavit, filed in September of 1997, seems to back up Wright's story.

"On August 7, 1997 at approximately 10 p.m. I was at the door greeting guests," Gates wrote.

"Mr. Wright approached the door and I stated the following: `Hi. Are you here for dinner or cocktails?' Mr. Wright responded, `we are just going to the bar.' I then stated, `Gentlemen, we are at the fire marshal's occupancy at our bar at this time and I cannot let you in."

Greenberg now says that at the time Gates filed his affidavit he did not know that Benbacer believed that he, Benbacer, was the one who first denied the men entrance.

Greenberg said he would be willing to fly Benbacer back from Morocco to testify in the case should it come to trial.

"We'll be happy to do that if that's what we have to do," he said.

A lawyer for the Wall, Wright, and Love raised a skeptical eyebrow at Mistral's mysterious Moroccan doorman.

"It's like a shell game with the story they (Mistral) want to tell," Cecil Gerbic, the attorney, said. "Where is the shell today?"

Stepping up his own offensive, Greenberg now accuses Wright, Wall and Love of pursuing their MCAD complaint only to squeeze money out of his restaurant.

"This is extortion," he told the Banner "They don't care about the truth, they just want money. They think we're going to settle just to make it go away."

Greenberg said he had rejected a settlement proposal from Wright, Wall, and Love for $100,000. There are currently no negotiations ongoing between the three men and himself, Greenberg said.

Wright says the charge of extortion only motivates him to press his case harder.

"They're engaged in a slander campaign," Wright said.

"He's calling it extortion because he's not used to a black man calling them on the fact that they did something wrong and that they must make amends for it."

Wright said he and his colleagues are seeking an MCAD judgement of both money and a court-order for Mistral personnel to undergo racial sensitivity training. Any pre-trial settlement, he said, would have to involve both money and sensitivity training.

Gerbic said an initial public hearing on the case will likely be heard at the MCAD in April.

Photo (Four black men sue Mistral bar)