At the annual MLK Civic Ceremony at the Old Courthouse Monday, television judge Mablean Ephriam took the opportunity to urge citizens to rise up against the Adams Mark Hotel. Ephriam, an attorney, visited the city several years ago with the National Bar Association and said her experience with the hotel was “one of the most racist of her life,” the Mississippi native said Monday.
Ephriam was the honorary grand marshal of the MLK march through the streets of downtown St. Louis. Before a crowd of hundreds including, Mayor Francis G. Slay, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Chief Joe Mokwa, state Rep. Russ Carnahan and his sister, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, Ephriam emphatically spoke against racism and blasted the Adams Mark Hotel for their racist treatment of African American patrons.
“I doubt if racism will ever be eradicated because of human nature, but we can do our best or we must die trying. You can start with the Adams Mark Hotel. I stayed there several years ago with the National Bar Association and experienced one of the most racist experiences of my life. A group of lawyers gathered at that hotel, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in your economy and we were mistreated, abused and disrespected,” Ephriam said Monday morning to an audience of over 200 crowded into the Old Courthouse Rotunda. Her remarks against the hotel that for many years has been charged with racist practices were met with thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd.
“I am appalled to know that the conditions still exist after the president sat with us and swore up and down that he would change things and he would make it more palatable and yet the conditions still exist today.
“We have to fight this evil on every hand and at every turn and we cannot give up the struggle. The struggle continues.”
The Adam’s Mark has faces discrimination accusations in Florida and St. Louis over the past decade, including an offensive letter that the hotel says was mistakenly sent to guests who were staying at the downtown Adam’s Mark during the 2005 Gateway Classic Weekend.