"Six employees at a Bloomfield Hills steakhouse have walked off the job for fostering an alleged racist work environment. According to a lawsuit filed against Eddie Merlot’s and the restaurant’s general manager Curtis Nordeen, sous chef James Gaines, who is Black, and his co-workers claim they warned Nordeen in July that if he did not stop making racist comments, they would walk off the job. Instead, staff allege that Nordeen refused to change his behavior and offered workers a raise to stay. Nordeen allegedly joked about shoving watermelon down the throats of Black children, mocked Sunday church hats worn by Black women, accusing Black customers of being on drugs, and made other racially charged commentary, according to the complaint. He’s also accused of implementing “Jim Crow segregation” by seating Black and white customers separately, according to the filing, saying he wanted Black servers to serve Black customers “because it made him feel more comfortable than having Caucasian servers do so.”" - Serena Maria Daniels
