Late last year it was reported that two employees at Portland's DoubleTree by Hilton were fired for the racial profiling of a customer. Jermaine Massey had got to the hotel in the evening last December after checking in earlier in the day, but when he noticed he had a missing call from his mother he became worried. He went to a more secluded part of the hotel's lobby to speak with her, at which point he was accosted by an employee who doubted he was a hotel guest and eventually called the police on him.
Oregon Live reports that Massey has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the hotel chain, citing racial discrimination. He said that he was kicked out of the hotel and had the police called on him for simply "calling his mother while black." DoubleTree Portland initially released an apology for the incident and fired both of the men responsible.
Lawyers for the 35-year-old Massey have said that the Hilton hotel chain has not implemented satisfactory policies and trainings to avoid racial profiling. Massey filmed the moment on his cellphone, in which he was escorted to his room to collect his belongings before he was kicked out for the night. The Seattle resident, who works for Microsoft, was visiting the city for a Travis Scott concert.
In response to the lawsuit, Hilton offered a statement. "Hilton has zero tolerance for racism and is committed to providing a welcoming environment for all guests," the statement reads. "As a demonstration of our inclusive culture, our corporate employees and Hilton-managed hotels have completed diversity and unconscious bias training." The company allegedly "accelerated scheduled training" in order to "ensure their employees have completed the diversity and unconscious bias training."
