Philadelphia, PA, April 26, 2018… The Anti-Defamation League (“ADL”) today expressed concern at reports that Grandview Golf Club (“the Club”) in York County called on police to remove five African American women playing a round of golf, despite the fact that the women had reportedly not violated any rules and were adhering to course etiquette. After arriving at the scene and taking statements from both parties, Northern York County Regional Police made no arrests.
On Sunday, the Club released a statement apologizing for “any interaction that may have made any member feel uncomfortable.” On Monday, however, the Club released another statement appearing to justify their actions towards the women, who are members of the public club.
“We were deeply concerned to learn of this incident at Grandview Golf Club as yet another example of the impacts of systemic racial discrimination and bias in our society,” said Nancy K. Baron-Baer, ADL Regional Director. “As we have seen around our region and the country, throughout history and still today, people of color are too often held to a different standard when engaging in daily activities. It is time that our society finally confronts implicit bias in order to prevent incidents of discrimination in the future.
While we were pleased to learn that the Club apologized on Sunday, their statement on Monday seemed to backtrack on that apology. We urge the Club’s co-owner Jordan Chronister, who was allegedly directly involved in the incident, to issue a sincere apology and outline clear steps that the Club intends to take to prevent future incidents of discrimination.
We are pleased that the Northern York County Regional Police respectfully mediated the conflict without making unnecessary arrests.
This incident demonstrates that all citizens – from our neighbors to our leaders– must dedicate themselves to rooting out bias in themselves and in society. We must invest in anti-bias education at all levels to ensure that these sorts of incidents stop happening in the first place.”
ADL has worked diligently to reduce bias throughout York County. In 2018, 18 schools in the county, serving nearly 12,000 students, participated in ADL’s No Place for Hate® program. ADL is the nation’s leading anti-bias educator, impacting over 65 million people since launching the A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE™ Institute in 1985.
Disclosure: One of the women involved in the matter, Sandra Thompson, is the head of the NAACP of York County. The national offices of ADL and NAACP, along with the Equal Justice Initiative and Demos, have been jointly developing an anti-bias curriculum for employees of Starbucks in the wake of the bias incident that occurred at a franchise in Philadelphia.
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The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Today it is the world’s leading organization combating anti-Semitism, exposing hate groups, training law enforcement on hate crimes, developing anti-bias curricula for students, countering cyber-hate and relentlessly pursuing equal rights for all. Follow us on Twitter: @ADLPhiladelphia