Jason Whitlock's Too Black For Kansas City Sometimes

Whitlock's latest KC Star column features D.J. Jazzy Jeff, KC's eight-block "P & L District," Kangol hats, and, of course, racism. Just another Saturday night with Whitlock in the Midwest.

What has Jason so ornery this week is the arbitrary dress code enforced by some clubs in Kansas City (well, everywhere actually), which he believes are geared toward de-thugging the patronage. For some reason, Whitlock was singled out by the bouncers at The Shark Bar even though he was wearing this outfit:

"I had on custom-made, black linen, crepe-weave shorts with a matching Tommy Bahama-style button-up shirt, black dress sandals and a black Kangol hat.

So he was dressed as Sam Jackson at a celebrity golf tournament and still got hassled. Bad move, Shark Bar. But Jason, cooler than creme fresh at a cucumber party (no idea why I just did that), just ignored it and wanted to walk out. His buddies, however, weren't satisfied. They demanded an explanation:

Russ and Troy politely bickered with the Shark Bar security and manager for about 10 minutes. They were told my shorts were "sagging" below my knees. Troy explained that he made the shorts to hang below the knees and the shorts were no longer than the Old Navy shorts worn by the club's bouncer. Then they were told that my shirt being untucked was a problem and that it was against club policy for my 23-inch white gold chain to hang outside my shirt.

Eventually the manager relented and allowed us to go in if I would tuck my necklace inside my shirt.

Once inside, we discovered all three of us were inappropriately dressed. We looked far too professional and classy. Seriously. That is not arrogance. The young, mostly white people inside the club dressed the way we did when we were young and financially strapped.

Oh man. Anyway, Jason eventually got into the club, because they finally realized who he was and who he wrote for, and didn't want to aggravate him any more. He still wrote about it, though!

Here's a memo to all club owners, stadiums, restaurants, hardware stores, swim clubs, or any other business that Jason Whitlock and his custom-made $500 shorts might walk into: just let him be.

Dress code — not Jazzy Jeff — is P & L's real problem [Kansas City Star]