FYI
Boycott Against the Adam's Mark
Roland S. Martin (BlackAmericaWeb.com)
EXCLUSIVE AND EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE 92ND NAACP CONVENTION FROM NEW ORLEANS
NEW ORLEANS - NAACP President Kweisi Mfume announced Wednesday that the organization is launching an "all-out" economic boycott of the Adam's Mark hotel chain for its refusal to honor an $8 million discrimination settlement.
Mfume asked branch chapters, members, individuals and corporations not to do any business with Adam's Mark after it reneged on the largest racial discrimination settlement in U.S. history. It stemmed from complaints alleged by African Americans attending the April 1999 Black College Reunion in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Those allegations included forcing black guests and visitors to wear non-detachable wristbands, making them pre-pay for rooms, phones and mini-bars, and charging higher room rates.
The NAACP filed a class-action lawsuit in May 2000. The U.S. Justice Department sued in December 1999 and the Florida attorney general's office also became a party to the suit, and the case was settled on March 21, 2000. It is unclear if the state of Florida or the Justice Department will re-institute their suit in the wake of the NAACP's action.
A music promoter who runs the Black College Reunion in March filed a second suit against the same Adam's Mark Daytona Beach hotel after this year's BCR event, saying black guests were forced to follow "house rules" that whites were not required to do.
"The NAACP has no other choice but to call for an all-out, long-term, massive boycott of the entire Adam's Mark chain," Mfume said. "And we will do that without apology and without equivocation until we believe that Adam's Mark is prepared to meet up with their responsibility."
Mfume said none of the NAACP's 1,700 branches can do any business with the hotel, whether its holding an event at a hotel or allowing the company to buy a table at a banquet.
He also called on African American businesses, organizations and individuals to not patronize the chain, even it means canceling banquets and moving them elsewhere.2b4cee.jpgMfume also said the 55 organizations who participate in the group's Fair Share corporate program will be asked to join the boycott.
"We believe that the only thing this company really understands is profit and loss, and that regrettably we have been forced to take a profit or loss position," Mfume said, adding that he has personally boycotted the hotel chain for some time.
"There is even a limit to the NAACP's patience on something like this."
In a prepared statement, Adam's Mark condemned the boycott, saying it was "outraged" by the action and called it "totally unfair, undemocratic and possibly illegal."
"Adam's Mark has a strong diversity record within the hospitality industry, and the NAACP's allegations are completely groundless," according to the statement, which was issued by Sharon Harvey Davis, vice president of corporate affairs for Adam's Mark.
"We believe the NAACP is simply reacting to its failure to force a settlement in a class action suit against the hotel chain," Davis wrote.
Adam's Mark has hotels in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas; Buffalo, N. Y.; Charlotte and Winston-Salem, N.C.; Chicago-Northbrook, Ill.; Clearwater, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, Co.; Indianapolis, Ind. (two locations); Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; Mobile, Ala.; Philadelphia; and Tulsa, Okla.
Davis said the company entered in a reciprocity agreement with the NAACP in 1998, "which included employment diversity goals that far exceeded those contained in similar agreements with other hotel companies."
She added that 60 percent of employees and 27 percent of managers are minorities. "These figures exceed the highest rated hotel in the NAACP's
most recent report card of the hotel industry," she said."The NAACP has failed to work with Adam's Mark in finalizing that agreement."
But NAACP spokeswoman Sheila Douglas said the organization withdrew from finalizing an agreement after Adam's Mark's abysmal hotel report card, and after the suit was filed on May 20, 1999.
Fred Kummer III, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Adam's Mark, told the Associated Press that he "doesn't know why the NAACP has been so anti-Adam's Mark."
"What the NAACP is basically trying to do is accomplish through the press and through the public what no court will do, and that is rule against Adam's Mark hotel," he said. "We did not do anything wrong."
Adam's Mark agreed in the settlement to distribute $4.4 million to black guests and visitors during that weekend; $25,000 to each of the original plaintiffs; and $1.5 million to historically-black colleges - Florida A&M University, Bethune-Cookman College, Edward Waters College and Florida Memorial College - for scholarships and internships in hotel management. The chain also agreed to pay $112,000 over three years to coordinate and promote the annual reunion and hire Kansas City-based Project Equality to ensure the company is in compliance with the agreement.
The settlement, which was announced in March 2000 and was supposed to last four years, was tossed out seven months later by Orlando-based U.S. District Judge Ann Conway, who ruled that a class-action lawsuit could not be filed in a public accommodations case. She did not dismiss the case on the basis of the allegations, NAACP attorneys were quick to add.
The NAACP has appealed her ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear oral arguments Monday morning, said Sam Smith, the Tampa-based lead attorney who is representing the NAACP.
But Mfume said Adam's Mark's denials about the allegations run counter to a July 6, 2001, final report from the Florida Commission on Human Relations, which determined that the allegations filed by plaintiffs Tiffany Thomas, Latavia Harris, Brenna Marie Graham "provided the Commission with sufficient evidence that a reasonable fact finder could conclude that during BCR weekend, (Adam's Mark) committed unlawful public lodging practices. In addition, a reasonable person could conclude that such reasons given by (plaintiffs) for these various practices constitute a pretext for illegal discrimination."
They added, "(Adam's Mark) enforced discriminatory policies and procedures for BCR that materially departed from the hotel's standard operating procedures for special events attended primarily by Caucasian persons.
"The available information also indicates that such discriminatory policies and procedures affected a class of similarly situation black guests and visitors of (Adam's Mark) hotel during BCR weekend in 1999," the report stated.
Among the allegations the commission determined were true:
Adam's Mark officials required non-detachable wristbands exclusively for African American guests and events. The company told the commission they were for "crowd control, safety and fire code regulation requirements. (Adam's Mark) cited to incidents arising from the high level of violence and disturbances in their hotel during BCR weekend in 1998." The commission requested Adam's Mark provide a list of everyone who were required to buy the wristbands, but "(Adam's Mark) objected to the request and cited the privacy rights of its guests. (Adam's Mark) also stated in the document request that wristbands were provided to registered guests. However, (Adam's Mark) later stated that guests wishing to purchase a wristband for visitors were charged $25." Room rates were higher during the BCR. The plaintiffs alleged they paid $250 per night for rooms, when the rates for the Rolex 24 Hour Race, Memorial and Labor Day weekends varied from $119 to $189.
The company presented affidavits from two white female guests who disputed the charges and said they did not notice any police barricades in or outside the hotel as alleged. The women, Stephanie Marie Steers and Rebecca Vento, said they had to "check out early Saturday afternoon because of their safety concerns and general chaos at the hotel." But the commission, after receiving 88 affadavits from guests, visitors, employees or former employees of Adam's Mark shot down those comments, saying "these affidavits support Complainant's claims of discrimination." Different cancellation policy. Black guests were told that cancellation of rooms required "30 days advance notice." For other events, the report stated, "cancellation was 24 to 48 hours." No upgrades. The plaintiffs presented the commission with reservation request for the BCR, along with the same form for other event such as Bike Week, Biketoberfest, and the Pepsi 400. The report said: "The BCR form was the only form that required guests in occupied rooms to be 21 years of age or older. The form also did not show availability of room upgrades; nor was there evidence in the record that BCR guests were allowed to reserve or stay in the upgrades (the plaza, hospitality/terrace, cabana, king, and presidential or executive suites) during BCR Weekend." But the upgrades were offered to white guests. "In addition," the report said, "the BCR form was the only form that required guests to wear wristbands and persons not wearing one would not be allowed to enter the hotel. The BCR form was also the only form that required visitors to be denied access to the hotel, unless a registered guest with three or fewer persons registered to the guest's room accompanied them."< /font> Pre-paying for rooms and amenities. Tiffany Thomas said she was told she had to pre-pay for a room and place a $100 deposit. She declined and checked into another hotel. Jay Viger, a white Adam's Mark employee, said in an affadavit that "management did institute policies and procedures that were discriminatory during BCR." According to the report, he said the hotel "chained many of the doors to areas in the hotel including emergency exits, even though it violated the fire code. He also stated that management did require BCR guests to prepay for food at the restaurant, while (Adam's Mark) did not require guests from other special events to prepay for food. Mr. Viger asserted that during the weekend approximately 150 officers from around the state of Florida stayed" at the hotel. John Griffin, a white male who visited the hotel during the weekend "stated that he saw Caucasians not being restricted, using the amenities, and entering and exiting the hotel without wristbands. He also noticed that the police force did nothing to prevent them from doing so." The report says that Adam's Mark held a meeting on March 18, 1999, that included a "BCR Target Date Checklist" that was dated October 15, 1998. "For example," the report said, "some of the items on this checklist included: restricting all movies, video checkouts and phone use; removing lobby furniture; locking all entrances to the hotel including the garage elevator and the Beach Club Elevator, barricades, bike racks, briefing the sheriffs daily and to control the front driveway." Plaintiff Brenna Graham alleged that she was forced to park in an unsecured parking lot away from the hotel because the main entrance was "barricaded with bicycle racks and orange cones." But she later observed "hotel security removing the barricades and allowing a white couple to pull into the hotel driveway and park in the hotel's covered parking lot. Complainant also alleged that she was not allowed to pull into the parking lot even during checkout."
From the Simply Greek.com website
Adam's Mark also was subjected to another discrimination complaint out of Philadelphia in January, after some African Americans complained the chain eliminated an event at its nightclubs that were popular among blacks.
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http://www.naacp.org
Boycott against the Adams Mark hotel chain
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