Hampton Inn Worker Fired After Calling Police On Black Family For Using Swimming Pool
A Hampton Inn employee in Williamston, North Carolina has been fired after calling police on a Black family that had booked a stay at the hotel and was using the swimming pool on the premises.
In a Facebook Live video that went viral, according to USA Today, the white employee and two police officers walked up to a Black woman and her children while they were in the pool and asked her to prove that she was a guest staying in the hotel.
The woman, who is identified on her Instagram page as Anita Williams-Wright, became irate and balked at the inference that she was not a hotel guest.
"I feel it's discrimination. I have a room here," Williams-Wright said in the video, as she showed her room key. "This lady here is discriminating (against) me. I have a key to get in and I can show you that it works… I have a room here. I don’t have to give my name. I didn’t break the law."
Williams-Wright said none of the other guests at the pool were asked to prove they were staying there.
"It was two white people sitting over there and she said nothing to them," Williams-Wright said in the video. "She said to me, 'Oh, because it’s always people like you using the pool unauthorized.' Who is people like me?"
She refused to show any identification, so police ran her license plate from her car, which was parked outside the pool area.
"Once I prove that I have a room, that was for you to walk away," Williams-Wright said in the video to one of the officers. "I didn’t commit a crime. You are degrading me like this in front of my kids. They are trying to enjoy themselves in the pool."
Hilton, which is the parent company of Hampton Inn, said in a statement sent to USA Today that the employee, whose name was not released, was terminated after the incident.
"Hampton by Hilton has zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind. On Saturday, we were alerted to an online video of a guest incident at one of our franchise properties," Shruti Gandhi Buckley, Global Head of Hampton by Hilton, said. "The team member is no longer employed at the hotel."
