PAN open letter re Professor Ngugi
The following letter has been sent out by the PAN in response to the “mistreatement” of Professor Ngugi at the Hotel Vitale. The agreement between PAN and Hotel Vitale was made without the knowedge of the anonymous comment by someone claiming to be an employee of the hotel. Obviously it cannot be proved that he or she is an employee but they seem to have a pretty good idea of the hotel’s policy so that needs to be considered. I have forwarded that particular post to the PAN regardelss. Below are details of the agreement reached between the two parties on which I am sure various conclusions can and will be drawn.
Dear members & supporters of Priority Africa Network
The email sent a week ago regarding the mistreatment of Professor
Ngugi generated a lot of angry response from members of our community
directed to the Hotel Vitale. Understandably, many of you were very
upset over the incident and expressed yourselves openly to the owner
and manager of the Hotel. Furthermore, the email was forwarded beyond
the PAN listserve to church groups, academic departments and student
groups, and even members of the media.
Because of the level of massive response our community showed, the
Hotel Vitale management requested a meeting with the leadership of
Priority Africa Network (PAN) where we sat and talked last Friday
evening, November 17th. Over the hour and half meeting, we were able
to get across to the management of the Hotel the impact this incident
had on us personally as individuals and on our community. We state
unequivocally that the management of the Hotel Vitale showed true
remorse, stated their sincere apology to the community, and have
offered to make amends on terms that are acceptable to us.
The Hotel Vitale has agreed to:
1. publish an apology in the San Francisco Bay View newsletter -
expressing their sadness and regret over this incident
2. conduct a diversity and anti-racism training to all staff at the
Hotel Vitale
3. provide a grant between $5,000 and $10,000 to a grassroot
organization in the San Francisco Bay Area working on anti-racism
education and advocacy. (Please be clear that this financial support
is not to PAN or any affiliate organizations associated with PAN. We
are in fact soliciting names of such organizations that you may suggest to
us.)
These were the terms of our negotiation and the Hotel has agreed to
all of the above.
The leadership of PAN believes therefore it is appropriate and
necessary for our community to move on. We respectfully request that
no more e-mails, letters or phone calls be directed to the Hotel over
this incident.
Please forward this message as widely to your networks as possible.
———————
Priority Africa Network
Mailing Address: P O Box 2528
Berkeley, CA 94702
Office: AFSC Office/PAN
1515 Webster Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510) 238 8080 ext. 309
PriorityAfrica@yahoo.com
http://www.priorityafricanetwork.org/page.aspx
Below is a statement to PAN from Professor Ngugi which has been published in the San Francisco Bay View:
Dear Nunu
It was nice talking to you on the phone and to hear that you have had useful conversation with Hotel Vitale over the incident provoked and carried out by one of their employees.
Mr Chip Conley, the CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Mr David Curell, the Manager of the Hotel Vitale, have written letters of apology including one by the employee himself. It was indeed ironic that I should suffer the injury when I was on a tour to promote Wizard of the Crow, a novel that talks about the dignity of the human person irrespective of their outward appearances.
I am glad that the Black Community and many other individuals of all races here and abroad have expressed their outrage. This is as it should be because the injury, emotionally violent to me as it was, was an injury to the community and human decency. If Hotel Vitale does genuinely meet the conditions you and they agreed upon, then we should leave the particular incident behind us and move on. However we must never forget that racism and other forms of prejudices are rooted deep in the history and social makeup of our society and that the struggle to root out individual and institutional racism must continue. Thank you Priority Africa Network and all you others who expressed concern.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
This is great news. We (here in Syracuse, NY) were just informed about this incident a few days ago, and I see it has reached a tolerable resolution. How can we emulate this model to apply to the other racist institutions in the United States, (& around the World?) This is an everyday occurance for most black folks. I wonder.. does it take an international celebrity like professor Ngugi to stimulate action, or would it be feasible to approach these racist occurances on a grassroots level?