Fall River Café: ‘No Colors Allowed’ Sign Refers to Gang Colors

A misunderstanding about the sign in the door of a Fall River café has some thinking that the restaurant is refusing to serve Black people – when in fact it is meant for the local motorcycle gangs that frequent the establishment.

A woman named Suhail Sanchez posted a public video at 5:19 p.m. Tuesday of her visit to J.C.’s Café, located at 1050 Bedford Street in Fall River.

In the video, Sanchez said she was walking by and that the food smelled good, so she thought she stop in – until she saw the sign on the door of the back entrance.

The sign reads “Absolutely No Colors Allowed.”

“Is this still even allowed?” Sanchez asked in the video.

An employee then came out and tried explaining to the woman that the sign “doesn’t mean what you think it means” and that it was in reference to the “colors” worn by local motorcycle gangs.

“I’m taking that very personal,” Sanchez said in the video. “I think you should take that off.”

We reached out to J.C.’s Café and spoke to the employee that is in the video.

“I’ve tried to explain this to a couple of people that I’ve seen outside taking pictures, or whatever the situation may be,” she said.

She said the reason why it’s worded like that is because the gangs – motorcycle and otherwise – do, in fact, wear “colors” that signify the gang with which they are affiliated.

“That’s why it’s worded that way, because that’s what they call it,” she said. “It’s all gangs, not just bikers. Some gangs wear red bandanas or blue bandanas.”

The employee noted that if they didn't word it specifically with the term the gangs use, they might use that as a loophole to still come in wearing the "colors."

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She said there had been issues in the past with allowing gang members to wear their “colors” in the café.

“To avoid any other complications, that’s why the signs were put up,” she said.

The employee said as hard as they try to explain what the sign really means, “some people understand, and some people don’t,” she said.

“It’s kind of a double-edged sword,” she said. “If we word it differently, there are complications with that, so we have to use that word because that’s the word they use and that’s what we’re referring to.”

She also dismissed the idea that the café would not want to serve anyone based on skin color or even gang affiliation.

“Unfortunately some people just take things to a whole other level,” she said. “We’re a restaurant, a Portuguese restaurant. We want to serve everybody.”

Sanchez told us she wasn’t buying the explanation.

“I don't think it is about gangs,” she said. “The sign clearly says, ‘Absolutely no colors allowed.’ So you’re telling me this doesn't mean anything to you? Let’s go back to the slavery days and then you tell me what ‘no colors allowed’ means to you.”

“There is still lots of racism in this world and it makes me very sad and angry that people can still live like this,” Sanchez said. “And for all the people attacking me, I just posted what I saw with my own eyes.”