After the tragic murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, the world witnessed a global uprising to put an end to systemic racism, anti-blackness and police brutality once and for all. In the months after May 25, 2020, we witnessed the unprecedented dismantlement of major corporations due to their lack of diversity in executive positions and/or discriminatory practices. CEOs stepped down, public figures were fired, NYPD and LAPD were defunded and MPD was abolished. Finally BIPOC were seeing tangible changes and accountability taken for the systems created to marginalize them. But this is just the first big step of dismantling a decades-long history of systemic racism and oppression, not just in the United States but right here in Canada.
Systemic racism and anti-blackness exists in all forms of our government, in schools and in the workplace. Racism is often considered a “touchy” or “uncomfortable” subject which is why it often goes ignored and completely unchecked.
In the plight of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, now is the time more than ever to put an end to anti-black racism by calling it out on our platforms and holding the individuals accountable.
This had us thinking about the rampant racism that goes on right here in the City of Toronto. Being the generation that we are (millennials and Gen Z), our focus gravitated to Toronto’s nightlife and hospitality industry.
It is no secret that Toronto’s nightlife industry heavily benefits off of black culture, financially. Therefore it is of great concern that the black community is being marginalized and discriminated against at an alarming rate.
Front of the house and management positions are generally given to white people or white-passing POC, while support staff and back of house positions are widely given to black and brown employees.
Toronto nightclubs are notoriously known for holding black people in line for longer periods of time or not letting them inside the club at all. “Dress codes” are enforced to keep a “classy” aesthetic, although through coded language, they’re used as a deterrent to black people and the type of clothing they wear (loose clothing, sneakers, flashy jewelry, etc). Words like "thugs" and "urban" are typically used when describing black patrons who do not meet up to dress code standards. DJs are given strict rules of their music selection in order to prevent the “wrong crowd” coming in (that one is the oldest in the book).
After the recent news of The Drake Hotel CEO Jeff Stober stepping down after accusations of racism, we took to task to research 21 popular establishments in Toronto (mostly nightclubs). We started by checking the lack diversity on their social media feeds (20 out of 21 nightclubs showcased only White, Asian and White-passing POC on their Instagram feeds), their stance on #BlackLivesMatter (only 10 out of 21 nightclubs showed support or signs of solidarity), we searched Google reviews (hot take: they’re terrible) and we reached out to several former and current employees in which they shared their stories of racism, whether it was experienced or witnessed.
Keep in mind that these are the businesses (majority on King West) that are making millions of dollars off of black music, black culture and black bodies.
These establishments may have posted a black square on their Instagram page(s) to show their alleged support of #Blacklivesmatter, however it certainly does not reflect on their business practices, and the discrimination doesn’t end at anti-blackness. Many members of the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC community avoid these establishments all together out of fear of feeling unsafe and unwelcome.
If these businesses aren’t going to willfully do the work to dismantle racism within their venues, Last Call for Racism is here to help them get started. With the help of victims and witnesses, we have documented 10 real-life accounts of racism and anti-blackness inside the nightlife industry. We can not move forward as a “united front” until we address and resolve the ugly truth about anti-black racism inside Toronto’s nightlife, which generally starts from ownership level down.
Before we make the decision to make this information public, we’d like to give these establishments an opportunity to do the work. We have provided action items (below) in which we hope will start a greater conversation for accountability and change.
Thank you to the brave people who came forward to share their experience. If you or anyone you know has experienced or witnessed racism in the nightlife and hospitality industry and would like to share their story, please contact us at lastcall4racism@gmail.com or send us a DM on our Instagram page @lastcalltoronto. All individuals will remain anonymous.
ACTION ITEMS
We have presented the following action items and we suggest they should be immediately implemented and practiced regularly inside every establishment in Toronto. This is not an “attack” on nightlife, we are willing to work with any nightclub in Toronto to create an anti-racist environment where employees and guests alike feel welcome and safe.
Staffing
Release current staffing diversity breakdown (by front of house, support staff, management level etc). Define a desired future state and release a detailed plan to reach that goal (e.g. Recruitment practices).
Change in management - Exit problematic leadership and ensure POC, and specifically Black, are in decision making positions.
Transparency
Release an official statement on your stance with BLM on social media - Do not turn off or edit comments.
Show the (literal) receipts
Make a significant donation to BLM and/or related organizations and post the receipts/confirmations.
Policy changes
Create or rewrite guest right of refusal policy, recruitment policy, DEI policy (addressing both both internal external (DEI).
Training
Debiasing training for all current and onboarding staff