'Acknowledge This Happened:' Attorney To Buffalo Wild Wings

AURORA, IL — Justin Vahl fought back tears at a press conference Tuesday as he recounted a story he's recounted countless times since he went with a multi-racial party of 18 to Buffalo Wild Wings in Naperville after a basketball game on Oct. 26.

Vahl was joined by his friend and his son's coach, Marcus Riley, who said he was also brought to tears by the incident, which led them to leave the restaurant.

"It brought tears to my eyes to the point, where when I walked out of that restaurant that night, I called my mother and I couldn't even speak," Riley told a room full of reporters, community groups and public officials from Aurora and Naperville at Cathedral of Grace St. John Church in Aurora.

"We don't gossip about racism; it's real."

Vahl and Riley had been with a group that included children ages 5 to 12 when they visited Buffalo Wild Wings at 75th Street and Route 59 and say they were told they had to move because they were sitting next to a regular customer who is racist.

"[The host] asked me what race I was and immediately I was appalled, I was astonished," Vahl recalled. "I responded, 'What does that matter?'"

"We have a regular customer here who doesn't want to sit around black people," he said the host told him.

After they had been seated for a while, Vahl and Riley say someone came over and said "Excuse me; I'm going to have to move you guys. This table is reserved."

Riley said a manager approached him about the reported racist customer, heard his side of the story, and said, "Employees gossip."

"We don't gossip about racism; it's real," Riley said at the press conference.

He added, "It's not alleged, it's confirmed. You see it, you feel it. It's real. It's right here."

"We are looking to change things."

Riley's sentiments were echoed by Attorney Cannon Lambert, who said he wants Buffalo Wild Wings to "acknowledge that this happened."

"You cannot refer to this as an alleged incident. If you refer to this as an alleged incident you're giving space for those who want to deny this to do so," he said.

A post by Justin Vahl's wife detailing the incident on social media led Buffalo Wild Wings to terminate the two employees involved, but Lambert says more can be done.

"We're not surprised that they fired the managers; that's what they should have done," Lambert said.

He added "We're not surprised that [Buffalo Wild Wings] instituted sensitivity training. What we're surprised by is that [the restaurant chain] didn't already have any in place."

Lambert said Buffalo Wild Wings "can be trailblazers right now" by being accountable for the incident and inviting Vahl and Riley to the table for future discussions on how to handle and prevent incidents of racism"so that there is a face instead of being able to think of this in the abstract"

Lambert suggested Buffalo Wild Wings:

• Implement employee screening to see how candidates would handle a "racially charged situation."
• Inform employees that there is a "corporate expectation that they demonstrate racial sensitivity while on the job"
• Implement signage and employee handbook verbiage with "clearly defined definitions as to what zero tolerance means."

When asked whether the group plans to file a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings, Lambert said, "You don't have to file a lawsuit if there's not disagreement."

He added, "If [Buffalo Wild Wings] agree[s] with us that this should have never happened, we look forward to talking to [them] further."

"I truly expect that they are going to appreciate the gravity of this situation," Lambert said.

A Buffalo Wild Wings spokesperson told Patch in an email, "We believe that we can fully and positively address the requests that were made this morning. We look forward to having a productive conversation with the guests. We’ve reached out and are awaiting responses, so that we can establish an ongoing and open dialogue."

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