Five Sue Daytona Beach, FL, Hotel For Alleged Bias During Black College Reunion Week

Jet, June 7, 1999

With support from the NAACP, five Blacks have filed a lawsuit against the Adam's Mark Hotel in Daytona Beach, Fla., charging that the hotel discriminated against Black guests during Black College Reunion Week earlier this year.

The suit alleged the hotel made Black guests wear orange wristbands, used security guards to intimidate them and gave them rooms without telephone service and basic housekeeping during the annual spring-break weekend in April. Pictures were stripped from hotel room walls, and minibars were kept locked, according to the lawsuit.

The NAACP and the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs are representing the Black guests, who are seeking class-action status for the suit. No dollar amount for damages was specified.

"This is yet another wake-up call to White America and White folks who don't think discrimination happens," said John Relman, an attorney for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "This is a wake-up call that discrimination is alive and well."

The plaintiffs, who are professionals, said they were charged a $100 deposit and prepaid as much as $776 for a weekend stay--much higher than the usual rates.

The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Orlando, FL, also says that Black guests were refused valet parking and the hotel set a limit on the number of people they could bring to the hotel.

None of these policies and requirements were applied to White guests at the hotel during the same time period, according to the lawsuit.

"I've never been arrested, never been to jail, but wearing the orange wristbands made me feel like I was in jail for the weekend," said Napoleon Berrian, 28, of Atlanta, an inspector for the state of Georgia.

"It was total humiliation," said LaToya Straughn, 25, a part-time student and customer service representative for a health-care company. "We understand the need for security, but there was no way they needed that magnitude of security."

Fred S. Kummer, CEO of HBE Corporation which owns the Adam's Mark Hotel, issued a statement, cited in the New York Times, that explained it is standard policy to require guests to wear wristbands during special events "to insure that guests do not exceed the maximum room occupancy at such events, thus violating fire codes and impacting the quality of the stay for other hotel guests."

The statement also said it is customary to ask for a $100 damage deposit during other large gatherings.

More than 100,000 people attend the annual Black College Reunion.

The event was started in 1984 as a small gathering of students from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona.