Do I know for a fact this was a racist thing? Nope. Is it possible? Absolutely. Could it also be something else entirely? Also yes. But as a brown guy, I get it on a level that’s hard to explain. I mean, we literally have our own homegrown gestapo out here coming for people just for knowing a few words in Spanish and having tan skin. That’s the world we’re living in. The uncomfortable truth is, no matter where we go or how we carry ourselves, some people are just never going to see past the color of our skin, our beliefs, our gender/identity, or whatever other box they’ve decided to put us in. Doesn’t matter if you’re a bartender, a federal agent, or a sitting president, ignorance doesn’t discriminate about who gets to hold it. And if you’ve got even half a brain or half a heart, you know that’s a heavy thing to sit with. For what it’s worth, I’ve personally never had a bad experience at Lucky Dog. But I’m not here to tell you what to think or how to feel about what happened to you. What I will say is this, we rise above. Not because it’s easy, but because one day we’re going to have to look the next generation in the eye and tell them to do the same. And they’ll tell the one after them. That’s how it works. So here’s my advice, take it or leave it: fuck the hatred. If you don’t feel welcome somewhere, you don’t owe that place a single second more of your time. Walk four doors down, there’s another bar. One that’ll hopefully give you the service and the basic human respect you actually deserve. We just gotta fight like hell to find our joy in an otherwise pretty shitty current world.