The owner of a hotel in Taos, N.M. has become the subject of national media coverage for his questionable management style.
Larry Whitten, a 63-year-old former Marine, has made a career out of turning around failing hotels. But he has drawn the ire of the town's residents and civil rights organizations for requiring some of his workers to Anglicize their names and refrain from speaking Spanish, according to an Associated Press article.
Whitten made one worker change his name from Marcos to Mark. Another was forced to pronounce his name differently - Marteeen became Martin.
Whitten, who also owned and turned around hotels in Florida, Texas and Oklahoma, sees nothing wrong in whitening up his staff. He also fails to see the implications of racism in his demands.
"It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything," Whitten said, according to the article.
Catering to potential guests is one thing. (But, really, who wants to serve a guest who would refuse service from Maria but not Mary?)
Suppressing ethnic diversity is something else entirely. It's rare to find a city in the U.S. that hasn't been "Anglicized" with Wal-Marts and Walgreens.
Taos is a beautiful city with some of the best tamales we've ever had (thank you, Leona's Restaurante).
Whitten needs to realize that America is not full of people exactly like him - old, white and bitter.
