SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - The U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic said Tuesday it has barred its staff from a nightclub that it says discriminates against black U.S. citizens.
Acting embassy spokesman Rex Moser said a black American woman was with U.S. Marines and embassy interns when a doorman at Santo Domingo's "Loft" club denied her entry on July 22.
Moser said the doorman told the woman she could not come in because she was wearing her hair in braided corn rows.
"This happens repeatedly and it happens to the African-American members of our staff," Moser said. "It was time to act."
The club's owner, Ray Santos, said the doorman's decision was not based on race, but that he fired the worker on Tuesday. Santos also said he would apologize and request a meeting with U.S. Embassy officials.
"We have no preference for (skin) color inside the club," he told The Associated Press. Santos added that the club's doormen were told to limit the crowd's size after a May shooting in which three people were killed.
In 2005, U.S. officials met with Santo Domingo club owners to address similar allegations of discrimination.
Though the vast majority of Dominicans have some African ancestry, light skin and straight hair are prized, while people with darker skin - especially those from neighboring Haiti - often suffer discrimination.
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