Retired African-American soldier ends Vegas boycott
Nearly 50 years ago to the day, Eugene Scott vowed he would never visit Las Vegas.
While stationed at Fort Irwin, Calif., as a tank officer in 1964, the Olympia Fields, Ill., resident and his fellow officers began planning a trip to Sin City, about 180 miles to the northeast.
“We decided since we were so close to Las Vegas we should go,” he said. “That week one of the officers told me I couldn’t go because the hotels they were planning on going to didn’t allow blacks.”
As the officers enjoyed their weekend trip to Las Vegas, Scott was forced to stay back.
“I wanted to go into the mountains to find gems but the officers I would have done that with went on the trip and I wasn’t that into it to go by myself so I sat around all weekend,” he said.
Though Scott said he wasn’t angry, he was let down.
“I didn’t blame them because they had no control but I was disappointed with the system,” he said. “I was trained as a lieutenant to fight for the government but I couldn’t share the benefits of being a full-fledged American citizen.”
Scott added, “Instead of flailing away from the system, I put a self-inflicted boycott against Las Vegas. I thought if they don’t want me there, I won’t go.”
However, on Friday, he boarded a plane from Chicago to Las Vegas. The flight was a birthday gift from his daughter Jacqueline.
Less than 24 hours after arriving at McCarran International Airport, Scott said he had already gotten a sense of the Las Vegas community and its people.
“Las Vegas has turned out to be greater than I could’ve imagined,” he said. “I’ve also come to understand what the slogan, ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ really means. It doesn’t mean what you think it means. You can’t take all of this back with you, you’d have to come back to get this again.”
Las Vegas was very different 50 years ago. According to a publication from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law, a 1960 a meeting between former Mayor Oran Gragson, Hank Greenspun of the Las Vegas Sun and leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People resulted in the integration of the Las Vegas Strip. However, not all of the hotel-casinos were cooperative and much of the 1960s was spent working toward complete integration.
Vegas wasn’t the only place Scott had implemented a self-imposed boycott against.
“I had an experience in Mississippi while I was en route from Miami to Fort Riley, Kan. when I was a brand new second lieutenant in the Army,” he said. “I was traveling with my wife and three children and when we reached Mississippi my kids were screaming that they were hungry so I we stopped at a restaurant. When I got to the front door I was told I couldn’t come in that way, I had to go around back and eat.”
Scott said he was conflicted about what to do as he was about to go to his first active duty station and defend America, despite not being allowed to eat breakfast at the establishment.
“I went back to the car and told my kids we had to find somewhere else to go but they were so hungry they started wailing so I sucked up my pride and went around back to eat at a picnic table in the kitchen,” he said. “It was one of the best breakfasts my kids ever had because the kitchen help was so happy to have us there. But I felt a crushing blow inside and I put a boycott on Mississippi.”
This past April, Scott attended his stepson’s graduation in Mississippi.
“It feels like I’m taking a big burden off my shoulders,” Scott said of lifting his boycotts. “I had to maneuver to stay out of Vegas and Mississippi. My friends would come to Las Vegas and couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to go. I just told them I couldn’t make the trip.”
Scott heads back home on Monday, the day before his 75th birthday. When asked what his plans are while in Las Vegas, Scott’s wife, Beverly, said, “Michael Jackson.”
“That’s not quite my era,” he replied with a laugh.
Scott met Beverly in 1999 while he was the general manager and publisher of The Chicago Defender, an African-American daily newspaper, where she was a reporter. He now serves as the president of Chicago Defender Charities, which gives back to the community through various events and scholarships.
Beverly told the newspaper that her husband would be visiting Las Vegas and felt it was important to tell his story.
“When he first told me the story about his Las Vegas experience, in my mind I thought if he ever goes, I’ll make sure it’s a great experience (for him) because it’s a tremendous story,” she said. “I feel like I’m serving as a bridge for him of letting go of the past and stepping into the future. I’m privileged to be here to experience the transition and happy to help make it an experience worthy of the man I believe he is.”
Scott said he didn’t have anything specific planned while in Las Vegas.
“I think I’ve gotten the lessons I need from Las Vegas and that’s to bury this hatchet,” he said. “I don’t have any bitterness anymore … it’s gone.”
Contact Ann Friedman at afriedman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Find her on Twitter: @AnnFriedmanRJ.
