By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Community leaders agree that steps must be taken to prevent racist attacks such as the incident that occurred at the Bowling Green Waffle House in 2019. But just how much the city can require of businesses is in question.
Working with La Conexion, Bowling Green City Council President Mark Hollenbaugh has introduced changes to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinances. But one provision requested by La Conexion is not in the proposal.
At issue is the request that businesses be required to train employees on anti-discrimination policies – or be liable if they don’t.
The request comes more than two years after two teenage customers at the Waffle House were called racist slurs then beat up by two other male customers. Those men have since been sentenced, but community members want to make sure that employees at local businesses are trained to better handle such incidents if they occur in the future.
“There were no policies in place,” Beatriz Maya, head of La Conexion, said about the slow response by Waffle House employees. “Employees didn’t know what to do – until the people began to beat the crap out of these two young men.”
Maya believes City Council can come up with language that will clarify the city’s expectations for businesses.
“Under this ordinance, it needs to be clear that you can be liable if you have not taken reasonable steps to prevent discrimination,” she said.
“We don’t want another incident like the Waffle House incident to happen in our town,” Maya said.
Hollenbaugh also doesn’t want another such incident – but he emphasized that the city cannot require businesses to provide such training for employees. The training is already being offered free of charge by the Bowling Green Police Division. But the city cannot require businesses to send their employees, Hollenbaugh said.
“We can’t legally do that,” he said. “We can’t require that a business engage in that training.”
The city also cannot hold business owners legally responsible for discriminatory behavior by customers, Hollenbaugh said.
“That was something we didn’t feel was doable,” he said.
Hollenbaugh said he met with representatives of La Conexion multiple times to come up with improvements to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinances that were initally approved by city voters a decade ago.
Working with La Conexion and the city attorney, Hollenbaugh said language was developed that covered all of the requests – except the employee training requirement.
The changes included are:
- Adding ethnicity, source of income, and immigration status as new protected classes to the existing code.
- Including the concept of “actual” and “perceived” classes, as many discrimination incidents are based on perceptions.
- Improving accountability and transparency in the reporting system by establishing a panel to accept and handle complaints. The panel expands this system from the city administrator to also include an elected member of City Council, as well as the president of the Human Relations Commission (or their designee).
While appreciative of the proposed changes to the anti-discrimination ordinances, La Conexion members are not content with a partial victory. The organization worked with BGSU and the city police division to design free training for businesses to identify and handle incidents of hate.
Hollenbaugh has suggested a public education program be established, possibly including stickers that could be placed in windows at businesses that participate in the training.
The second reading of the proposed changes to the anti-discrimination ordinances will be held at Monday’s City Council meeting, and La Conexion is asking community members to voice their concerns.
Hollenbaugh is hopeful that after the third reading, council will approve the proposed changes to the ordinances.
“My hope is these will get passed, and they will improve our ordinances,” he said.
