U.S. accuses club of bias

Nightspot kept black people out, lawsuit says

By JESSE GARZA and BOB PURVIS
jgarza@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Dec. 29, 2005

A downtown nightclub turned away African-Americans in violation of federal law, U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic alleges in a federal lawsuit, falsely telling them the club was full or a private party was being held while allowing white people to enter. 

Club Accused of Bias

Photo/Rick Wood The nightclub Eve is quiet Thursday night. U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic is suing the club, alleging racial discrimination.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin against the owner of Eve, 718 N. Milwaukee St., alleges that the club has engaged since at least 2002 in "policies and practices of discriminating on the basis of race" against African-Americans.

The practices violate Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the lawsuit, which asks the court to order club owner Candy II Inc. and Tom Wackman, its agent and club manager, to halt the practices.

Biskupic said his office launched an investigation of the club after "more than one incident" of discrimination was alleged to his office and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department.

Biskupic also said two previous lawsuits against the club alleging racial discrimination had been considered but had no bearing on the decision to file the federal suit.

"You try to consider all the circumstances in these types of matters," he said. "We will aggressively move on these types of cases."

In an interview Thursday, Wackman said he runs the club the same way exclusive nightspots operate in cities such as New York and Chicago. He said the same exclusivity that made Eve so successful when it opened four years ago is bound to upset people.

"For the most part it's more white people that are turned away, but white people don't have an avenue of complaint," Wackman said. "If you look like you should be on Water Street, you should be on Water Street, whether you are black or white."

Wackman, who says his best friend is a black man and whose daughter's godfather is black, said he was deeply hurt and insulted when the first lawsuits were filed but says he knows in his heart the complaints are baseless.

His attorney, Timothy Baldwin, said people can be turned away for any number of reasons to maintain the club's exclusivity, but never race.

Eve's exclusivity is not only part of a successful business model, but a must to draw celebrities and professional athletes to its VIP area, as it has since it opened, Baldwin said.

Wackman "has done a great job of maintaining a young, trendy, upper-middle-class crowd," Baldwin said.

Unlike most clubs in Milwaukee, which cater either exclusively to minorities or to whites, according to Baldwin, Eve always has a racially mixed clientele

He added that Wackman will vigorously fight the lawsuit.

"We have decided that it is in our best interest to take this issue on because for too long Milwaukee has sat silently on the race issue," Baldwin said.

Earlier cases

In April 2004, eight African-Americans who claimed they were turned away from the club twice in December 2002 were awarded $1,001 each when Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Kremers ruled that the club discriminated against them based on race.

Kremers said he imposed limited damages because the potential customers suffered embarrassment but no emotional distress and the club owners did not act maliciously.

The following December another a black would-be patron sued Eve, claiming he tried to get into the club in January 2004 but was stopped at the door by two bouncers who told him the club was holding a private party. In that suit Michael Boles claims two white friends were allowed into the club on the same night without invitations or spots on any guest list, and that the only others he saw denied entry were also black.

That case was assigned to Kremers' court and is still pending.

A thin line?

Some young black men say Eve's door policy walks a thin line between being exclusive and being racist.

Damion Forrest, 28, a singer-songwriter and corporate sales manager for PC Mall, said when he and a group of friends decided to celebrate his readmission to college at Eve, they were told there was a private party going on. He vowed never to return.

"If I am completely dressed to the T, there is no reason I shouldn't get in, unless it's a capacity issue, and it was told to me that it was a private party and I knew that it wasn't," Forrest said.

But so many of his friends frequent the club he couldn't help going back.

He says that although the level of discrimination he perceived has decreased dramatically over the years, it still exists.

"The notion that everybody had was, when you go to Eve be prepared to have an alternate plan because you don't know if you are going to get in," Forrest said. "They definitely do sort through the people to get the type they are looking for, but at the same instance you can't do that by discriminating against someone's race."

Geraud Blanks, 27, who manages local hip-hop group Black Elephant, said when the club first opened he would be turned away even though he was dressed to the nines.

"I just know that it had a mystique when it opened, and everybody was talking about it and no one could get in," Blanks said. "The bouncers used to say 'Private party, you need to be on the list.' "

But it wasn't just black people turned away, said Blanks, who said he realized over time that getting into Eve depends largely on whom you know.

"Latrell Sprewell comes in a T-shirt, basketball shorts and flip-flops and he is treated like a king," said Blanks, adding that Eve does have one of the most racially diverse crowds of any club in town.