A local water park in Kansas City, Missouri, is accused of racial discrimination after canceling a Black family’s party at the last minute, claiming they were “uncomfortable” with the gathering.
RELATED STORIES: Family Of Children Denied At Sesame Place Lawyers Up!
On Saturday, the Evans family was approached by a female park director at the entrance, who explained that they were “uncomfortable” with the gathering after the family advertised the party on social media. However, Chris Evans presented the park’s policy and said there were no rules regarding posting an event on social media despite the director’s claims.
The city of Lee’s Summit said they decided to cancel the party because the Evans family reportedly advertised it on social media, leading around 500 people to show up at the water park. Summit Waves said the family reportedly agreed to have only 250 people attend the event.
“A teen party rental scheduled for the evening of August 6 at Summit Waves was canceled by Lee’s Summit Parks and Recreation after it became aware of social media posts advertising the event. This raised serious concerns about the safety of party guests and the possibility the event would grow beyond the capacity of staff. After multiple attempts to reach the rent in advance of the event to discuss safety concerns, a connection was not made until hours leading up to the event. At that point, the only recourse was to cancel the event.”
RELATED STORIES: Legoland New York Under Fire After Characters Ignore Black Children, Company Responds With Zero Tolerance Policy
After the viral video of the confrontation between the Evans family and a female parks director spread across social media, two Summit Waves employees also posted on Snapchat about not caring about the situation as reported by Kansas City Defender. One of the employees wrote, “Good morning from Summit Waves apparently. We are canceled and being dragged but we don’t give a f*ck.”
On Monday, protestors stood outside of the water park’s entrance and said the family at least deserves an apology for the situation. “That’s how I feel — that they were judged by the color of their skin and that these are African-American teenagers, and she may have felt uncomfortable, but if they paid and signed a contract, then they should have been allowed to come in,” Sarah Washington said to FOX 4 Kansas City.
The family has hired an attorney, Ivan Nugent, to handle the case to help fight against racial discrimination.