'Horrible and sad': Easton grad's family says restaurant called cops over teen's attire
NOPD confirms responding to disturbance over 'female's attire'; restaurant denies calling cops over attire but apologizes
1 of 2
The outfit Sanai Butler wore to Lula Restaurant Distillery on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. (Photo provided by La Shawn Butler)
Lula on St. Charles Avenue is a restaurant with an onsite distillery. (Photo by Todd A. Price,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The day marked a major milestone for Sanai Butler.
The 17-year-old had just graduated with honors from Warren Easton Charter School, and her mother told her she could choose any restaurant she wanted for a big celebration.
Sanai picked Lula Restaurant Distillery on St. Charles Avenue, and a group of 28 relatives and friends, all Black, gathered to honor her and hear some big news: she would be heading to Talladega College in Alabama.
But what was supposed to be a joy-filled meal ended with the restaurant calling the police because a woman — identifying herself as the owner’s wife — didn’t like the bikini top that Sanai was wearing, according to the family.
Officers ultimately didn’t arrest anyone. But Sanai’s mother, La Shawn Butler, said the restaurant’s decision to involve the New Orleans Police Department was excessive and hurtful. "I feel it was racially motivated," she said.
The group had not been told of a dress code, and there didn’t seem to be one posted in the restaurant, Butler said.
She also said the woman, who was White, approached Sanai in a bathroom, but should have approached adults at the table. Sanai and her mother, after viewing pictures online Wednesday, said the woman was Erin Bourgeois, wife of owner Jess Bourgeois. Lula's declined to comment on the Butlers' identification.
“This is a child at the end of the day — if you had something to say about her outfit, you could’ve approached me as her mother,” Butler said.A
A year ago, a Minneapolis store clerk called police on George Floyd because he suspected Floyd had given him a counterfeit $20 bill, setting the stage for what would become Floyd’s tragic killing at the hands of an officer who has since been convicted of murder. That is what made the event so scary, said Butler.
“That could’ve gone so many different ways,” she said.
While the NOPD confirmed that it went to Lula’s Tuesday to respond to “a disturbance about a female’s attire,” the restaurant issued a statement saying the call was made during “a verbal altercation” to ensure the safety of all patrons.
“The police were called after three disruptive, adult patrons engaged with another table of patrons, and one of the female owners of Lula,” the statement said.
The restaurant apologized to the diners who were present, including “any person who feels that Lula discriminated against them based on their attire or race.”
“We are working with our team, including management and ownership, to determine what should have been done differently and to ensure an enjoyable restaurant and dining environment for everyone,” the statement said.
La Shawn Butler on Wednesday provided a detailed account of the encounter, which she said occurred two hours after the group had arrived for their reservation.
When Sanai entered the restaurant, no one on the staff said anything about her outfit: a bikini top, matching leggings, a customized graduation stole and a mortarboard, Butler recounted. Her daughter put a jacket on inside at one point because she was cold, but she took it off for pictures and had not put it back on when she went to the restroom with her cousins.
According to Butler, it was in the restroom that a woman who said she was the wife of the owner told Sanai that she needed to put on another shirt because the top she was wearing was “very inappropriate.”
Sanai was “visibly upset” when she returned to the table and told her mother what happened, Butler said. The group was incensed.
At one point, Butler said, the woman came up to the party and argued that she could say whatever she wanted because she was in her own restaurant. She eventually went off to the side, and two NOPD patrol cruisers pulled up. They left without taking action.
Butler said she felt the restaurant would’ve handled the matter differently if her group — which spent $2,000 — wasn’t entirely made up of Black people.
A newly hired Lula employee who asked to remain anonymous said she was so disgusted she quit Wednesday. She vouched for the Butlers' version of events, saying it seemed the cops were annoyed at the reason they'd been called out to the restaurant.
"It didn't have to get to that point," the employee said.
Sanai declined to be interviewed Wednesday but issued a statement saying her dinner at Lula was “a horrible and sad experience.”
from showing up.
when I go out to eat my plate has more than a steak on it
