LONDON: The High Court action by Learie Constantine, the famous coloured cricketer against the owners of the Imperial Hotel, London, for “failure to receive and lodge him” promises to become a ‘cause celebre’. It helps to put into focus the whole question of the colour bar which the presence of so many American troops has now raised in Britain.
Constantine who is here as a Welfare Officer to West Indian technicians in Lancashire came to London to play at Lords on August Bank holiday week-end in the England versus Empire Match. He and his wife and daughter left the Imperial Hotel after guests objected to the presence of a coloured man. The case was reported by Dr. Moody, President of the League of Coloured Peoples, to the Colonial Secretary, Colonel Oliver Stanley.
The Manager of the Hotel, Mr. Harold Walduck, declared afterwards that Constantine had left the hotel voluntarily but added, “This Hotel caters for White people and at the present time they are largely Americans. For myself I don’t care whether they are black, white, green or yellow; I only carry on the hotel to meet the requirements of the patrons”. Constantine said: “Daily humiliations hurt and make you bitter if you aren’t careful.”
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2018
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