Locked gate at Caesars prompts charge of racism
THE MOVABLE BUFFET
Poetry nightclub owner Michael Goodwin says the closing is a social injustice for his mostly black clientele.
Reporting from Las Vegas — Nightclubs in Vegas usually avoid politics, but on a recent early Saturday morning I observed one of the rarest sights you'll ever see at a Strip property. I was at the Caesars Forum Shops, one of the most trafficked malls in the world, to view a protest.
As private property, most any protest there would usually result in arrests for trespassing. But this protest was different: The protesters were customers and employees of the popular nightclub Poetry, which brings a lot of business to the Forum Shops. No one was arrested; casino security observed from a respectful distance.
In an e-mail and conversations before the event, organizers and participants had referred to this as a "silent protest." But by the time the march took place, the term had morphed, to quote Poetry nightclub owner Michael Goodwin, into a "silent observance."
Poetry, located above Wolfgang Puck's Chinois, has been involved in a tenant-landlord dispute with Caesars and the landlord of Forum Shops, Simon Property, and is in court with both (the next hearing is set for Thursday). Because of the pending litigation, Simon Property declined to comment for this article. Caesars did not respond to a request for comment.
At the center of the dispute is the closing of the main interior entry from Caesars to the Forum Shops at 1 a.m. At that time Poetry is the only business still open in the Forum Shops. So, to access the nightclub after the gate closes, patrons must go outside the resort to walk from the casino to the club. The result is that spiffily dressed clubgoers must walk through a service entrance past doors labeled for emergency use, then outdoors past piles of trash to get to the high-end-marketed nightclub.
For locals the geography is not too challenging, but according to Goodwin, this obtuse entry process has proved too much for many tourists who can't find a way into the club. "This used to be a peak hour, but now our business goes down at 1 a.m. Tourists see a sign that says the Forum Shops will open tomorrow, and it does not even say how to access Poetry."
And Goodwin says he has no doubt what the motivation is behind the closing of the gate: racism. Poetry has a large number of African American patrons, and Goodwin believes race is the reason behind this gate being closed. Hence the non-protest protest as described by Goodwin: "We are not calling it a protest. We are calling this an observation of racism in action. The fact of the matter is that we feel the harassment we take and the treatment we get here is based on us being embraced largely by a black clientele. Why did they close the door that is our main entrance after four years at business?"
