Monday, August 23, 2010

A restaurant that needs a new name

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing restaurant has admitted to discriminating against customers who practice Falun Gong and violating their civil rights, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

In a consent decree issued last Thursday, the owner of Lucky Joy Restaurant, at 41-10 Main St. in Flushing, admitted engaging in a pattern of ejecting 10 patrons, including an 8-year-old girl, from the restaurant on three occasions in 2008 because they were wearing clothing that displayed the doctrines of the religious movement.

Falun Gong has been banned in China for more than a decade due to its practices and has been on the rise in the United States.

“It is disgraceful that a person would be refused service in a restaurant for doing nothing more than exercising their right to wear clothing with a religious message,” Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

The manager was not available to comment by press time Tuesday evening.

Under the agreement, the Chinese restaurant’s owner is barred from discriminating against any patron based on “religion, religious expression, religious dress or association with Falun Gong,” according to the U.S. attorney. The owner has agreed that the staff will attend special training that will teach them the non-discrimination requirements listed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the U.S. attorney said.

16 comments:

FlooshingRezident said...

The Falun Gong emblem has a swastika in the middle of it. These people would have been kicked out of a lot of restaurants. Perhaps they should change their logo.

RegoParkGuy said...

The Falun Gong always seem very peaceful, their parades are gorgeous. I think that swastika symbol is used in Buddhism and has been around for 2,500 years. A wiki search led me to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svastika#Other_Asian_traditions en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svastika#Other_Asian_traditions

Anonymous said...

So this restaurant owner can ban people because of their religious views but a mosque can't be banned in lower manhattan?

Deke DaSilva said...

Thomas E. Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

Heck of a job they're doing over at Eric Holder's Justice Department!

Going after the BIG FISH - Chinese restaurants!!!

But what about the New Black Panthers intimidating voters? They put on their best Sergeant Schultz imitation - "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"

And who can forget when Lindsey Graham (of all people!) bitch slapped Eric Holder at the Senate Judiciary Committee!

Eric Holder! A guy attempts to set off explosions in Times Square, and Eric Holder! can't even say the words "radical Islam"! "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQt_mP6Pgg

Anonymous said...

All the Chinese that I know hate Falun Gong too, and since they are more familiar with it than Americans are, they may have a point.

Anonymous said...

All the Chinese that I know hate Falun Gong too, and since they are more familiar with it than Americans are, they may have a point.
-------------------------------------

If its something most of the chinese hate, it HAS to be good.

Dolly Lama said...

All the Chinese that I know hate Falun Gong too, and since they are more familiar with it than Americans are, they may have a point.

Ask your Chinese acquaintances what they think about Tibet, that should enlighten you even further.

Anonymous said...

Communist Chinese. The same people who lured all western corporations to feed their military machine by draining us all of our jobs.

Be afraid, Be very afraid.

Anonymous said...

The Soup Nazi is Next!

Anonymous said...

I doubt too many Chinese immigrants who had to run for their lives from the cultural revolution have much sympathy for Communism or the Chinese government.

Nonetheless, Sun Myung Moon's Moonies were darlings of the Right Wing American Establishment at one time and they are totally crackers.

People who are not all that familiar with Falun Gong may not recognize cult-like elements there.

Anonymous said...

Falun Gong is openly practiced in over 80 countries around the world and there has never been even a shred of evidence that it is harmful or that its a cult.. Its not even a religion, its more of a spiritual practice with exercises or a way of life. A lot of chinese dont like it because they heard propaganda stories coming from China about how they practice bestiality or kill themselves, which has been debunked completely and is utterly false and disgraceful.. I suggest you watch the documentary transmission 6-10 on youtube for free. Very informative.

Anonymous said...

Now that its Chinese discriminating against other Chinese it makes the headlines.

For years Asians have discriminated against Flushing's African Americans in many of their shops and the issue was invisible.

Well...Fuk Yoo!

Anonymous said...

LOL....it's the Falun Gong show!

Deke DaSilva said...

Nonetheless, Sun Myung Moon's Moonies were darlings of the Right Wing American Establishment at one time and they are totally crackers.

Yes, and who are the current "darlings" of the Left wing at this moment?

Maybe you'd like to take off your "mosque" and show us your true self!

People who are not all that familiar with Falun Gong may not recognize cult-like elements there.

One man's "cult" is another man's "religion". They're ALL pretty much bonkers to me, and I'm sure a fellow named "George" on this board would concur.

A lot of chinese dont like it because they heard propaganda stories coming from China about how they practice bestiality or kill themselves, which has been debunked completely and is utterly false and disgraceful.

I've personally witnessed the Chinese clamp down on them. I was in Beijing on December 24, 2001, in Tiananmen Square. A woman stood in the middle of the square and started yelling "Falun Dafa Ho!", or something like that. Immediately, Red Army soldiers, Jing Cha, and some plain clothes guys swarmed on this lady. A van pulled up, she was thrown in the back, and taken away. Soon after, another lady did the same thing, except she was holding a baby, and they got taken away also.

A western lady took photos, and the police soon surrounded her, demanding she hand over her film. I think she did so, she didn't have much choice, unless she wanted to be taken away along with the Falun Dafa people.

I don't agree with their "cult like" aura, but I support their right to exist. They're not flying planes into buildings or chopping people's heads off.

neversleep said...

Some Chinese I've spoken to hate them because they're a crazy cult and "embarrass" their homeland. I never bothered to ask them about all those dangerous warlike Tibetans.

Anonymous said...

Falun Gong is a cult whose leader is Li Hongzi. Most of what I know about them, other than their annoying loudspeaker on Main Street, is from some Chinese people I know. Their leader claims he can levitate, is the living reincarnation of Buddha and so on, his inner circle is completely cult-like. In fact, they talk about levitation and reincarnation on their falundafa.org website to some extent. They're a bunch of wackos. Of course, this is the USA, and the guy has to learn he has to let people who behave in the restaurant, but you can't blame him.