Thread by @SangariTee

I was denied service at 2 diff. Chinese restaurants in LDN. EP1, my cousin asks the lady why she was asking us 2 leave and “this is not a fast food restaurant” she answers. He calmly tells her that she cant do that. I told my cousin 2 let it go & we walked out #rascismisalive

EP2 My @malaikaaminata friend & I walk in2 another Chinese restaurant. We sit at an empty table. A lady comes over asking us 2 move upstairs. Prepared by my previous incident I say no right away. She starts shouting at us 2 move bcos the table is for 4. #rasicismisalive @kuvie_

2 avoid an incident, I look right over at the next table & notice 2 ladies sitting at another table for 4. I ask them if it’s ok for us to share the table. They agree and make room for us. We sit down and this is what ensues @wanlov @panjianoff @niikotei @tafari #rasicismisalive

The lady tells us that either we take our food to go or they won’t serve us because we refuse to go upstairs. Sensing danger, I start filming right at this point. @TamsinWressell shell shocked at the lady’s behavior starts questioning her #rascismisalive

At this point @malaikaaminata is confused & asks the magic question, why are we being treated this way ? Is it because we are black ? I’m in shock 2 & my reflex is laughter, the thought that someone would think they’re better than me because of their race amused me at that point.

I tell the lady that we are staying seated here until we are served @TamsinWressell whom we know from nowhere refuses to back down and continues to ask why they’re being treated better than us. She continues to ask that we be served. #RacismMustFall #racisminuk #Windrush #racism

As fate would have it, in the process of the lady defending her not serving us, a group of Asians walk in & sit right at the table in question. I’m cracking up at this point because the lady has no excuse now but she still stands by her decision not 2 serve us. #racisminlondon

Throughout this whole incident I must say that I was quite impressed with some of the guests at the restaurant. The man in the blue shirt behind the racist lady, proceeds to leave and offers his table to us. The lady still refuses to serve us. #racisminuk #racismisalive #racist

At this point the lady realizes that she’s losing customers but she’s not willing to budge to two black people. She’s now resorts to her “upstairs” strategy again. How we found the patience to rise above this I have no idea. @JayNew7s #racism #chinese #ChineseRestaurantracism

Tamsin’s friend at this point decides that she’s not paying 4 her food if we are not served and treated with respect. @malaikaaminata walks over to the next table(Asians) and tries to explain what’s happening to them, they totally ignore her and continue with their meal #racism

After realizing that we were not budging in our stance 2 sit in until we got served and Tamsin & her friend were not going 2 take no for an answer she starts 2 explain herself 2 the other customers. Interestingly this situation still humored us #racisminlondon #racismisalive

She finally approaches and asks us 2 tell Tamsin to pay her bill and she’ll serve us. Can you imagine the nerve. I then ask her to serve us and this is what she does. #racisminlondon #racismintheuk #racism #chineseracism

I was only in London for a period. I don’t have to deal with racism on a daily basis bcos I live in Accra, Ghana. I almost did not post this but I thought about people that have to deal with this on a daily basis. They’re told that they’re not enough just because they’re black

A group of black men came downstairs as this incident was happening and we asked them if they were sent upstairs and they sarcastically answered that the food comes quicker and tastes better upstairs. How can we accept this behavior as a norm ? As Africans, we must support....

our diasporan brothers and sisters in their struggle for the respect they crave as humans, as we celebrate the ‘victory’ of the #royalwedding let’s recognize that Duchess might not have deal with racism anymore but people do everyday. @KensingtonRoyal your work is cut out for you

If this is going on in 21st century England then I’m worried really really worried for what’s in store for us as a race. I’m still processing this whole experience. I can only imagine what it’s like to live in such a system. #racisminlondon #racisminuk #racismisalive