The NAACP and four individuals, two of them from Longs, have filed suit against Molly Darcy's on the Beach for alleged racially-discriminatory actions during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest, which the lawsuit calls Black Bike Week.
The suit alleges that the restaurant is closed annually during Black Bike Week but remains open for each Harley-Davidson motorcycle rally that precedes it in May.
The NAACP, its Conway Branch, Lee Edwards and Letrena Edwards of Longs and Leon Hines and Joey Hines of Columbus, Ohio, are listed as the plaintiffs in the suit.
Officials of the restaurant and its owners could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mickey James, president of the Myrtle Beach Branch of the NAACP, said this afternoon that his organization is participating in investigations of a number of other businesses over racially-discriminatory practices during the Atlantic Beach motorcycle rally reported to it or the national organization.
"I don't know what's going to turn up or what's going to happen," he said of the potential for more lawsuits. "That's up to the attorneys to decide."
The lawsuit filed in federal district court in Florence said it includes all persons similarly injured as members of a class which the suit says it represents.
It says the defendants attempted to patronize Molly Darcy's during the Atlantic Beach rally each year beginning in 2008 and that they were irreparably harmed by its closure. It says the NAACP and the Conway Branch have invested time and money in an attempt to investigate and resolve the situation.
The suit is asking the court to issue injunctions against the business to stop the discriminatory practices and unspecified actual and punitive damages for each member of the class that was harmed.
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