DISCRIMINATION

NC Hampton Inn Employee Fired After Calling Police on Black Guests Using the Pool

The guest said the employee asked her to prove she was a guest, but did not ask others at the pool to prove they were guests.

A Williamston, North Carolina Hampton Inn employee has been fired after calling the police on Black hotel guests using the hotel’s swimming pool. In an almost 10-minute viral Facebook live video, the white hotel employee and two police officers question a Black woman, Anita Williams-Wright, asking her to prove that she is a hotel guest. “I feel it’s discrimination. I have a room here,” Williams-Wright said. “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, who were white, were asked to prove that they were hotel guests. Hilton issued a statement denouncing the incident, stating that the hotel chain has “zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind.”