Father’s Day was coming and my 82-year-old dad had just one wish, and that was to get all his kids and grandkids together again and take a trip up to Maggie Valley. My father has been taking us there for years and the memories of my youth are filled with gunfights, Cherokees and mountains, courtesy of what I thought was a magical place.

Let me say also that me and my family are Black. Me and my wife drove to Maggie Valley to secure rooms for the weekend. We drove back to South Carolina that same day without a single room.

When I arrived in Maggie Valley, I felt I was back in the segregated South of my youth. Back the Blue signs and flags were on almost all the motel marquees, and I refuse to stay at a hotel where I’m not welcome. What disappointed me the most was that a national chain like Clarion was also participating in this act of racism. It was also on Clarion’s giant marquee. 

Back the Blue was created as a direct challenge to the Black Lives Matter movement, so yes, I get the message. The message is I’m not welcome at most of the hotels and restaurants in Maggie Valley and I’m not welcome at the Clarion Hotel.

Michael Qualls

Florence, S.C.