Morning Edition, June 25, 2009 · It's standard practice for nightclubs to enforce dress codes, banning t-shirts, sneakers or hats. But in Kansas City, Mo., a new entertainment district has established some pretty strict rules that some claim discriminate against young African Americans and Latinos. And now the city is trying to encourage business development downtown, while ensuring patron's civil rights.
It's almost midnight on a steamy Saturday evening, and Kansas City's new Power and Light District is teeming with people. About a dozen new bars, restaurants and clubs are clustered around one block – which has a central, open-air plaza. A lot of people are here for the first time.
But not everyone is having a good time.
"I don't look like everybody else here — plaid shirt, Abercrombie and Fitch, they probably think I'm some Mexican from LA," says Mark Vasquez, who was just turned away at the entrance. He's here from Houston with his brother – who was wearing the same outfit, but got in: a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and sneakers.
"First it's like nothing on my shirt, you can't come in with a blank shirt, and then when a lot of people are showing that, they let them in with blank shirts," he says. "They say my shirt is too long."
Vasquez probably should have been admitted. The dress code here bans sleeveless shirts on men, excessively baggy or sagging clothing, work boots, and sports attire, when liquor is being served.
"I didn't think dress codes were an issue until the Power and Light District," says Dan Winter, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and western Missouri. He's been steadily fielding complaints since the downtown district opened last year. "You can't put a major attraction like that, right next to the center of the African-American community and expect them to feel comfortable restricting what they wear, and only what they wear, really."
