(WGTD)---How does the Kenosha City Council’s only African-American alderman view allegations that the council is taking a racist stance in its dealings with a bar that plays hip hop music?
Speaking on the council floor this week, Anthony Kennedy rejected the notion that city officials are refusing to grant a cabaret license to the Red Zone simply because of the music deejays play. Kennedy told bar attorney Anthony Nudo that he’s offended by the allegation. "The idea that we're against hip hop music and Black people is offensive," Kennedy said. "It's a matter of in my opinion of what you said and what you did...they're two different things."
Last year the council granted a probationary cabaret license to the Red Zone after a bar manager said that the establishment planned to offer live bands on weekends. Instead, the bar settled into a pattern of deejays playing hip hop, drawing large crowds of primarily African-Americans.
A series of disturbances in recent months, including weapons-related calls, have the bar’s neighbors concerned.
The council Wednesday night refused to convert the bar’s probationary cabaret license into a permanent one.
Kennedy, a member of License and Permit, said he would’ve crafted a different response last year had he known the bar had hip hop in mind. For one thing, Kennedy said he would've suggested that the bar's managers and owners meet immediately with police department officials with an eye toward nipping any problems in the bud. He said he also might've asked for the tavern's business plan.
Nudo, the bar’s attorney, is planning on filing a federal lawsuit.
The License and Permit committee is scheduled to meet in closed session Monday night to work on another aspect of the controversy. The committee is expected to come up with a series of demands that if met would allow the Red Zone to retain its liquor license.
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