South Philly Hotel Owner Says Racism Not Behind Restaurant’s Eviction
Mike Dunn, KWY-TV (Philadelphia), March 18, 2011
The local branch of the NAACP is accusing a South Philadelphia hotel of discrimination for allegedly asking that the attached restaurant not schedule any hip-hop parties.
At issue is a dispute between the Holiday Inn on Packer Avenue {snip} and the former operators of the on-site restaurant.
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“They were scheduling some individual parties, and they were ordered by the owners–Trent Motel Associates–to stop doing events that attracted black customers,” Mondesire [NAACP chapter president Jerome Mondesire] claims. “It’s getting to the (baseball) season when the Holiday Inn is going to do a lot of business, so we wanted to alert the public about it now,” he told KYW Newsradio Friday.
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A spokesman for the owners {snip} says the directive to stop the dances came only after one such dance ended in gunfire.
