President Bush Headed For NAACP/Adam’s Mark Storm Front

BALTIMORE— Charges of racial discrimination against Adam’s Mark Hotels & Resorts— and the St. Louis-based lodging chain’s rebuttal to those charges— are already slated for judicial review in Florida. But now it seems the entanglement might involve the executive branch as well… on a national scale. Specifically, President Bush is scheduled to put in an official appearance at the Adam’s Mark in Denver; a turn of events that promises to land the Chief Executive right in the eye of what heretofore had been primarily a localized storm of controversy. In fact, when apprised of the President’s plans, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) President/CEO Kweisi Mfume said: “We would hope that the President would do what his brother, [Florida] Governor Jeb Bush, did and not go to the Adams Mark because of our boycott.” Along those lines, this past weekend, the NAACP mounted demonstrations— in line with a recent U.S. District Court ruling allowing an unrestricted boycott to proceed— against Adam’s Mark on behalf of alleged discriminatory practices suffered by African-American guests at the hotel chain’s Daytona Beach, FL property during Black College Reunion weekend in 1999. As such, last Friday the NAACP made its presence felt in front of the lodging company’s headquarters in St. Louis as well as at corporate sales offices in Illinois and Washington, DC. On Saturday, the civil rights organization maintained it successfully picketed all 24 of the chain’s hotels systemwide and— according to a spokesperson for the NAACP— “we feel we absolutely got our point across [that we want to bring this situation to a satisfactory conclusion].” On the other hand, Adam’s Mark VP Sharon Harvey Davis contended that the NAACP’s weekend actions had “a negligible impact on business” at the various properties, and that the hotel firm’s “employees as well as guests did cross picket lines.” However, there might well be other opportunities in the offing for the NAACP to make its impact felt on the lodging chain. The NAACP spokesperson noted that the civil rights group is, even now, “looking into other direct actions like this that it may take [against Adam’s Mark]…although at this point no timetable has as yet been set” for such actions. As for the lodging company’s response to this past weekend’s demonstrations— as well as to the specter of further actions that might be mounted against Adam’s Mark— Davis said the company “is still looking to pursue resolution of this matter in the courts.”