We the undersigned thank Hilton Worldwide for taking down the picture of Confederate veterans 26th reunion, May 1916 that was on display at The Tutwiler in Birmingham. The picture showed KKK leaders who were credited for ridding the South of the “social menace of negroes;” it also showed Gen Bennett H. Young, chief of the Vermont Yankee Raid Party, who with his own hand shot and killed Elinus Morrison and wounded Collin Huntington in St. Albans on Oct. 19, 1864 but was not arrested.

The picture was removed 9/18/23 on the complaint of writer and activist Ahmar Mustikhan. 

The Hilton Worldwide promised that they would consider putting the picture of the Four Little Girls who were killed by the K.K.K. in a bomb attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church— just four blocks away— on September 15, 1963 but now say they will choose an “aesthetically pleasing” picture.

We now appeal to Jonathan Gray, Chair of Board of Directors, Hilton Worldwide, and   President & CEO, Blackstone Group;  Christopher Nassetta, President & CEO, Hilton Worldwide; Hawley Hilton McAuliffe, Chair of the Board, Hilton Foundation; Chris Carr, Board Member, Hilton Worldwide; and Mark Weinstein, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Hilton Worldwide, to turn a new leaf on its past and say sorry for the hurt they have caused and thoroughly examine all their hotels all over the U.S. and overseas to ensure there are no such materials that impinge on the right to equal and pleasurable accommodation of people of all races, color, ethnicity, geography, country of origin, nationality status, age,  sex or sexual orientation during their stays at any Hilton hotel.

We appeal to Hilton Worldwide to support civil rights endeavors all over the United States and globally. They may do so by putting busts of civil rights icons in their hotel lobbies and keeping the book Why We Can’t Wait by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. or any other educational material they may deem appropriate in their hotel rooms. They may also provide conference rooms at highly discounted rates for civil rights related events.

We believe these small baby steps may play a big role in educating people about the past mistakes of racism not only in the U.S. but all over the world so that they are not repeated in the future.

We are of the firm conviction that we are all one human family and Mother Earth is our common home; that racism in any form or shape insults our common humanity.