CHARLOTTE — Steamers Sports Bar, a long-running east Charlotte restaurant, has received backlash for serving members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group.
Steamers, located off Albemarle Road near East Independence Boulevard, is one of the most popular restaurants in east Charlotte and has been in business for 25 years.
On Saturday night, a group walked in that caused the owner a lot of headaches. He told Channel 9 it has been tough since Saturday. He’s received calls accusing him of being a white supremacist.
As many as 30 members of the Proud Boys dined at the restaurant, according to social media posts.
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He said he doesn’t agree with the Proud Boys at all, but they did not break the law, so he didn’t feel that he needed to kick them out of his restaurant.
That upset many customers.
“We refer to the Proud Boys as an alt-right gang,” said Shannon Reid, a gang expert at UNC Charlotte. “I think, for a while, people felt like it was a Portland issue or a New York issue and not a Charlotte issue.”
Reid thinks that a group spontaneously showing up at a bar or restaurant puts the management of that establishment in a very tough spot. She said society should tackle the issue in a broader fashion.
“Pushing for things like civil gang injunctions and different interventions that don’t put the impetus on the restaurant owner or bar owner,” Reid said. “But pushing to back on law enforcement and on the courts.”
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“Labels are not charges,” said Chris Swecker, former FBI assistant director.
Proud Boys, although labeled as an extremist group, have rights, such as going out for dinner.
“Being a member of a group called the Proud Boys, wearing a T-shirt is not a crime, shall we say,” Swecker said. “It is a crime when you start to conduct actions.”
The storming of the U.S. Capitol has many people across the country on edge.
“We get calls daily,” Swecker said. “Thousands of calls. People suspicious of their neighbors, suspicious of three swarmy-looking people having coffee at Starbucks. It was off the charts, and I think that’s where we are right now.”
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