![]() We couldn’t build the wealth White folks could. “Blacks couldn’t qualify for FHA loans until 1968. “It was systemic racism at work,” continues White. “It was the railroads that dictated where Blacks would live, literally across the tracks.” Once thriving Black businesses downtown had their licenses revoked and were forced to pull up stakes and start anew on the west side of town. “The Ku Klux Klan marched down Fremont Street in 1925,” she says. As one of five founders of the Las Vegas Black Historical Society Inc., White has interviewed hundreds of people who lived through those times. However, i t wasn’t until the late 1920s that the town became segregated, notes Claytee White, director of the Oral History Research Center for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries. Las Vegas was officially founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. Alvaranga’s recent sold-out Black History program, "A Night at the Moulin Rouge," spotlighted dancer Anna Bailey Sammy Davis Jr.’s adopted son, Manny Davis and Katie Duncan, who worked at the real-life Moulin Rouge.Ī peeling mural shows present and past at the Moulin Rouge site - Photo courtesy of Beth D'Addono A quick history lesson “The Moulin Rouge and its impact on the Black community and the role it played in the desegregation of Las Vegas can’t be understated,” says Shakala Alvaranga, director of public programs for The Mob Museum: National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement in Las Vegas. had to enter the Strip hotels through back entrances, despite their names in light on the marquee out front. Prior to Moulin Rouge, even stars like Nat King Cole and Sammy Davis Jr. The Black-run and staffed Moulin Rouge opened in May 1955 as the only integrated hotel and casino in Las Vegas and billed as "the nation's first major interracial hotel." It extended a welcome mat to guests and players of color at a time when Black people were barred from casino entry unless employed there. But this spot on the National Register of Historic Places is a portal into the city’s Black history. ![]() It has been several years since officials have put a new name in the Black Book.Ĭommission Chair Jennifer Togliatti, a former judge, asked for clarity on why Weatherspoon - and not someone else with a similar background - was proposed for the Black Book.Drive to the 900 block of West Bonanza Road in Las Vegas' Historic Westside, and all that’s left of the Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino is a giant vacant lot and a series of peeling murals on an adjacent building. James Taylor, chief of enforcement for the Gaming Control Board, said the Black Book has traditionally included “the worst of the worst.” He said a total of 71 people have ever been listed, and those were typically involved in cheating casinos or connected to organized crime. Kendrick Weatherspoon (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) ![]() Fred Haas, who runs Metro’s vice and gang unit, said there are probably six others on his radar that he considers possible Black Book candidates. ![]() In discussion before the 5-0 vote, gaming officials questioned whether it would set a precedent and set up a situation where hundreds of criminals might be added in the future.Ĭapt. People who are listed in the Black Book are banned from casinos. Kendrick Laronte Weatherspoon of Las Vegas was added to the Black Book - officially, Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons - at Thursday’s Nevada Gaming Commission meeting. ![]() LAS VEGAS (KLAS) - The newest name in Nevada’s “Black Book” could signal a new direction for law enforcement - taking a hard line against sex trafficking and other criminal activity that is attracted to casinos. ![]()
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