I don't have to tell you, I have a key to get in.
Why do you need to know what room I'm in?
We were the only black family at the pool.
Two white people sitting over there,
she said nothing to them.
She said, "I'm tired of you people coming here
and using the pool and it's not authorized."
I said, " 'Cause I know you not talking about black people."
She said, "Well, you people keep coming here
and y'all not a guest at this hotel."
She didn't identify herself as an employee.
My room, where's my proof?
This is my proof.
Okay. This is my proof,
so I don't, why do I have to tell you what room I'm in?
I showed them the key and I said, "Here's my key."
I could prove that it worked.
I decided to turn on my phone to film me and the police,
because I felt like I was in danger.
We'll run her license plate.
You could do whatever you want.
And they're running my license plate,,
I'm here on business with my kids in the pool.
At that moment, I was in shock.
I was like, is this really happening?
I felt like I was being interrogated by the police.
My son is only 11 years old,
he thought the cops is going to shoot me.
What makes her think that I couldn't afford
to be at that hotel?
What I want white people to know is to look at us as equal.
(dramatic music)
I'm adding to the conversation, Anita,
joining from North Carolina via (indistinct),
and my good friend, her attorney, Benjamin Crump,
a well-known civil rights lawyer
and author of bestselling book
"Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People".
Welcome to both of you.
Anita, good to meet you.
Ben, how you doing?
Nice to meet you.
Hanging in there, Dr. Phil,
thank you for having this important conversation
for America.
Anita, I'm glad you turned your phone on at the pool.
What was your first thought when you were approached?
I didn't even know she was an employee
of the Hampton Inn hotel.
The police were called,
so they started demanding identification,
they ran your license plate.
How did this ultimately end?
We don't see that in the video.
With me telling my son and daughter to come out the pool
and we were just gonna go back to our room.
And were you followed going to your room?
Yes. She followed me to the elevator.
In the video you can hear her threatening
that the manager was gonna come to the room
and she was saying a whole bunch of stuff.
at that point I tuned her out
because I was just thinking about my kids,
that they had experienced this
and my son he had his head,
like his chin all the way in his chest,
his head down, he wouldn't pick his head up at all
so I just looked at my son,
I was like, "Oh, he's like, he's terrified."
Ben, what do you make of this?
Dr. Phil, I think far too often,
you see these microaggressions
as your panelists have articulated that they lead to action.
We see on a larger level,
this implicit bias leads to policies
and then municipal ordinance,
they lead to federal regulations
and then they lead to things
where you see a justification of unjustifiable acts
like Eric Garner being choked,
saying I can't breathe in New York
or George Floyd having a knee on his neck
for eight minutes and 46 seconds,
but you have laws that would say,
well, they were following policies and procedures,
and so they argue that that was justified.
That's what we're fighting against.
So what happens with this hotel that changes this policy,
what will have to happen?
Well, it's quite obvious,
if you don't respect black women,
if you don't respect black business and our black families,
then the Hilton should not expect our black dollars,
because if you're going to discriminate against us,
then we have to, as a community
say that we won't tolerate that kind of activity.
Anita's son thought the police
were going to kill his mother
because they were prejudged by an employee
who needed better training from the corporation.
Here's an excerpt from a statement of apology
from Hampton by Hilton.
It says, "We have apologized directly to the guest
and her family for the experience
and we'll work with them and the hotel
to make this right.
We remain in contact with the hotel's ownership
about followup actions and to ensure that in the future,
their employees reflect the best values of our brand
and are welcoming for all."
I don't know who the Hampton apologized to,
but it wasn't me.