In 2006, Ngugi had been booked into the luxurious Hotel Vitale on San Francisco's waterfront when one of the employees ordered him to leave.
Ngugi was in San-Francisco to attend the convention of the African Studies Association and to promote his new book, Wizard of the Crow.
He was relaxing on the terrace of the Hotel's Americano restaurant when the employee told him the place was for the hotel's guests and that he should leave.
In the employee's own reasoning, Ngugi did not look like someone who could afford to be in such a high-end hotel and restaurant.
It never occurred to him that he was humiliating
a professor of English and comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine, who had also taught at Yale University and New York
Attempts by Ngugi to confirm that he was indeed a registered guest at the hotel fell on deaf ears as the employee insisted that he should leave.
Angered by the employee's prejudice against him, Ngugi went to report to the hotel's top managers who apologised to him but refused to take action against the employee.
This infuriated Ngugi, who packed his belongings, left the hotel and booked himself into the nearby St. Francis Hotel.
Ngugi, who was not yet done with Hotel Vitale, wrote to the management demanding action against their employee and an apology in one of the leading newspapers in San-Francisco.
With negative publicity swirling around the incident, especially after Ngugi talked about it in radio interview, the hotel's manager and the employee reached out to him and rendered their personal apologies.
They also published an apology in the local paper stating in part: “These actions were unacceptable, and this experience has deeply affected everyone concerned.”
In addition to the public apology, the hotel also donated $5,000 to a local nonprofit organisation to support its anti-racism work.
Commenting about the incident, Ngugi said, “This person was very sure that there was no way I could have been a guest at that hotel.”
By Levin Odhiambo Opiyo
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