A hotel worker in North Carolina who called police on black guests at the poolside has since been dismissed.
Hampton by Hilton, which owns the Hampton Inn hotel in Williamston, said in a statement that it had been “alerted to an online video of a guest incident at one of our franchise properties [on Saturday]”.
“Hampton by Hilton has zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind”, continued the statement. “The team member is no longer employed at the hotel.”
In an almost 10-minute-long video posted on her Instagram and Facebook, Missy Williams-Wright complained that she had been discriminated against after police were called to investigate whether or not she was staying at the hotel with her two children, who were using the pool.
The video showed one Hampton Inn worker and two Williamston police officers approach the black woman, who said she was staying at the hotel on business.
“I feel it’s discrimination. I have a room here,” said Ms Williams-Wright in the video, while holding 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.”
The Williamston Police Department said in a statement that officers were called to the hotel to investigate a person trespassing. Hotel workers also told police that the black woman’s children had been unattended in the pool.
“Hampton Inn staff advised that they enquired from the adult to see if they were a guest at the hotel and the adult refused to provide their name and room number,” said the police statement. “Hampton Inn staff advised that they told the adult to leave the premises and called for law enforcement.”
Ms Williams-Wright said the hotel worker had not asked two white people about their presence at the pool.
“I’m the only black person here in this pool, they want to question me,” she said in the video. “But it was two caucasian people sitting right over there and she said nothing to them. So she goes and calls the police officers.”
“She said to me, ‘Oh, because it’s always people like you using the pool unauthorised.’ Who is people like me?” added Ms Williams-Wright.
The video has now been viewed more than one million times on Facebook, with thousands posting messages of support.
The police department added that it determined she was a guest at the hotel.
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Credit: Independent
