"Ballard's Does Not Discriminate," Says Block Island Restaurant Owner Following Complaint
GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle
"Ballard's Does Not Discriminate," Says Block Island Restaurant Owner Following Complaint
"I reached out to Ms. Fonseca," said owner Steven Filippi. "I emailed her to invite her out. Ballard's does not discriminate."
Fonseca, a Georgetown University graduate and Associate Director of the Feinstein Institute at Providence College, said after stopping at Ballard's for a late lunch last Sunday with a friend and asking the restaurant where their food was after close to an hour, a staff member became irate -- and ultimately took their food away when it arrived, and had them escorted out.
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"On a personal note, I said I felt her pain," said Filippi. "My father opened the first interracial night club in Rhode Island, and had run-ins with the police, and was looked down upon by the upper class."
The Celebrity Club, which opened in 1949, catered to the black community with performing artists like Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan and Count Basie.
"He was recognized by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society in 2010 for his work," said Filippi.
"I asked her to come out and talk," said Filippi, after a representative for the restaurant extended the invitation this week
Editor's Note: Rhode Island House Minority Leader Blake Filippi has no current business ties to Ballard's.