Comments on: “You are a black man - you have to leave”

By: Delux

Delux — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:05:21 +0000

Everything about the prof’s looks and demeanor was very uncharacteristic of a guest at that hotel.

Puh-lease. “Black Man in Canada” clearly has never actually *been* to San Francisco and seen what passes for fashionable dress or ritzy hotel demeanor there…

By: Changeseeker

Changeseeker — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 01:03:46 +0000

Unless I missed it somehow, no one raised the obvious point about “appearance”: if the Professor had been “White,” we would not be discussing this matter because it would never have happened, no matter how he looked. The idea that anyone would presume or suggest that all the guests of any “high class” hotel in the U.S. look a certain way at all times is ludicrous! People with money are often very unconcerned about their appearance–because (as we say in the States) “they’ve got it like that” (meaning they don’t have to care).

At the very least, no matter how disheveled the Professor looked, if he had been “White,” even if he was approached, the first communication would have been a simple question and very respectful: “Are you, sir, a guest of our hotel?” No challenge if the answer was “yes.” And definitely, no trip to the registration desk. (He is hardly the first professor not to satisfy a G.Q.-standard, and he was after all, sitting in the sun reading the paper, not appearing for the press or something.)

The bottom line is that the whole incident was about race–not about class and, most assuredly, not about appearance. Which is why it was so unconscionable and indefensible.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 11:31:03 +0000

I just want to say thank you for this site. I had not heard about this until an NPR podcast today. And I live in the Bay Area. Just wanted you to know how this message is still traveling and hope it continues. I am sending it to family and friends.

- 24 year-old Caucasian in a multi-racial family

By: inciquay

inciquay — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:02:45 +0000

WTF is wrong with Black man in Canada? I was enraged reading the account of Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o and have already sent my own letter of complaint to the Hotel Vitale regardless of their half-hearted apologies. What has bothered me even more is how a grown-assed Black man cannot see the obvious racial overtone from the hotel by them asking the professor to leave. Please do not begin to think that we are all as naive and stupid as this idiot. Most of us those of us north of the border are keenly aware that racism is alive and well here too. It’s a shame that some people insist on denying it. This was an insulting act of prejudice that cannot and will not be tolerated.

-Intolerant Black woman in Canada

By: mind-mart

mind-mart — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:58:16 +0000

To: black man in canada

nice try but you didn’t ‘pass’