BLM NYC co-founder and chairman Hank Newsome alleged that the restaurant staff treated the black women with hostility and accused Carmine’s of covering up “their employees’ actions by using the vaccination passport as an excuse.” He demanded that Carmine’s release its video footage of the incident, which he believes will settle that the hostess was the antagonizer and that the three women were wrongfully charged.

Chivona Newsome, the other co-founder of BLM NYC, targeted Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate more specifically in her remarks. She implied that the edict has resulted in repeats of historical episodes when blacks were disenfranchised from society.

“Being a doctor does not protect you from anti-blackness. Having a vaccination card does not protect you from discrimination. The 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits the actions of Carmine’s. It says it is illegal to discriminate against you on the basis of race,” she said.

“Seventy-two percent of black people in this city from ages 18 to 44 are unvaccinated. So what is going to stop the Gestapo, I mean the NYPD, from rounding up black people, from snatching them off the train, off the bus?” she added.