Monday, November 20, 2006

Ngugi fall-out

The furore surrounding the treatment of Ngugi wa Thiong'o in an Oakland Hotel recently (see Black Look's post here) simmers on. I was so angered I followed up her suggestion and emailed the Chief Exec. I got this reply today. For a CEO in the hospitality sector, I must say I'm impressed:

Dear Community Member

Prejudice still exists in America. It is real and palpable. While we’ve all witnessed superficial changes in America over the past four decades, the reality is that people “pre-judge” each other way too much, whether it’s based upon skin color, religion, sexual orientation, age, economic status, or some other factor that makes one “the other.”

As one of the owners of the Hotel Vitale and Americano restaurant, I want to publicly apologize for the treatment Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o received from one of our employees on November 10. While this employee has a good work history, the truth is that this employee “pre-judged” and disrespected the Professor by assuming he was not a guest in the hotel. Within a few minutes, when this employee was proven wrong, he was remorseful and ashamed and he has been put on leave from work as we review this matter further. What is troubling is that he, along with all of our employees, received mandatory diversity training, yet this incident still happened. I am deeply sorry for the offense this has caused Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o and the community. I have sent a private letter of apology to the Professor, as has the General Manager and the offending employee.

This is a matter of great importance to me personally. I went to Long Beach Poly High School, one of finest inner city public high schools in America well know for its diversity. I have a mixed race foster son who identifies as African-American. I am in a long-term relationship with an African-American. Our company supports more than one dozen local multi-cultural organizations. In sum, we have always tried our hardest to assure we are part of the solution, not part of the problem. That is why this incident is personally very troubling for me as we have created a diverse workforce that has high employee satisfaction and, relative to other companies, we have a grass roots track record of respecting our employees, our customers, and the community. Yet, clearly we are not perfect and we need to do better.

On Friday I met with key members of PAN (Priority African Network) and we came up with mutually-acceptable means of making amends to the community. This will include a public apology ad in a local newspaper, a donation to an anti-racism local non-profit, and deeper anti-racism training of staff (beyond just normal diversity training).

Thank you for expressing your sadness, anger, surprise, and anguish. We are using it as a continuing “wake-up call” to assure that every one of our employees respects every single person they come into contact with – whether they are a customer or not. Every human deserves to be respected and acknowledged.

Signed

Chip Conley

Founder & CEO

Joie de Vivre Hospitality

5 comments:

sokari 8:06 pm  

It just goes to show that if enough publicity is made and enough people complain then we can make changes like this happen. Great Stuff. Also please listen to his interview on Pambazuka Broadcast (link on BL)

Anonymous,  5:46 pm  

Y-a-a-w-n!

Anonymous,  7:55 pm  

Hi. I live in Oakland, california. I believe the hotel is San Francisco. I am not saying it could not happen in oakland but it is more unlikely since oakland has a sizeable black population.

By the way, I grew in the San Francisco in the eighties and 90's. It is very diverse city. But one thing is, in the mid 90's dot-com bubble significantly changed population make up. As an african-american, I saw how the black people from the western addition neighborhood completely disappeared due gentrification and crazy real estate market. The people that were moving in were white professional types, either from the suburbs or mid-west.
I am sure that racist person in hotel is not a native of San Francisco nor raised in the bay area.
But I would not be suprised if some restaurants or hotels have a policy of only "catering" to new san francisco population...
It is too bad. San francisco will always be my "home"- at least the san francisco before 90's gentrification.
I feel bad for the professor- because there is still a positive and good side to San Francisco that he will not be able too see...

Catherine,  1:37 am  

Having been born and raised in a large Eurpian city (where there isn't segregation, where there is true diversity and so much more interracial lives than America,) and then moving to America 9 years ago, I was shocked to find America (despite in some areas being diverse) still extreamly segregated whether racially or economically more often the mix together. and as diverse as some areas of San Fransico and Oakland are,There are still areas of segregation. Having mixed raced members in my own family I really apreciated the responce from the CEO. Some people are just ignorant no matter how much we try to educate people. Every single person on this earth is guilty of judging others. someone with less money, some one with more, someone's eyes, hair are a little darker. someone's hair or boobs are fake. No matter how much we try to be non racist, non byist, non judging everone does it some time during an entire week even if we never tell a another being. Every one is human, there for we all make mistakes. even if we are educated, some times we make mistakes thinking we have someone elses interest at heart.
It just seems like America is almost as slow as South Afica as catching up on it's de-segregation. I am appalled by America's own slow racial History for a counrty being so "free" . Palease!!! This huy who made the mistake that others are paying for has learnt there lesson. Porbably will re think who he is. But hey show me in the world where these judges don't take place.

Catherine,  1:42 am  

Having been born and raised in a large Eurpian city (where there isn't segregation, where there is true diversity and so much more interracial lives than America,) and then moving to America 9 years ago, I was shocked to find America (despite in some areas being diverse) still extreamly segregated whether racially or economically more often the mix together. and as diverse as some areas of San Fransico and Oakland are,There are still areas of segregation. Having mixed raced members in my own family I really apreciated the responce from the CEO. Some people are just ignorant no matter how much we try to educate people. Every single person on this earth is guilty of judging others. someone with less money, some one with more, someone's eyes, hair are a little darker. someone's hair or boobs are fake. No matter how much we try to be non racist, non byist, non judging everone does it some time during an entire week even if we never tell a another being. Every one is human, there for we all make mistakes. even if we are educated, some times we make mistakes thinking we have someone elses interest at heart.
It just seems like America is almost as slow as South Afica as catching up on it's de-segregation. I am appalled by America's own slow racial History for a counrty being so "free" . Palease!!! Some made an ignorant mistake and other people are paying for that person's mistake. That person has learnt their lessona nd is probably re think who they are. show me in the world somewhere where people don't make preconcieved notions.

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