The State of Alabama raided and shut down White Hall Entertainment in November due to “systemic racism,” the company’s attorney said on Tuesday.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced in November his office had obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against White Hall Entertainment in Lowndes County.
The TRO involves more than 600 allegedly illegal slot machines in the casino and multiple entities associated with the casino location, including Cornerstone Community Outreach, Winter Sky LLC, White Sands Technology LLC, BB23 LLC, and R&J Holding Company, Inc.
Pursuant to the order, the facility has been closed and sealed, all assets of the entities have been frozen, and there can be no further financial transactions connected with the facility or those operating the facility until further orders from the Circuit Court of Lowndes County. The Attorney General's Office also executed a search warrant at the gambling facility as part of its ongoing investigation.
Faya Rose Toure, an attorney for White Hall Entertainment, said in a filing in the ongoing gambling litigation between the state of Alabama and the company on Tuesday, “White Hall and White Hall Town Council assert as an affirmative defense that the State of Alabama has intentionally misinterpreted and applied the public nuisance law to deprive the African American Citizens of Lowndes County and the municipal government of White Hall the equal protection of the law, resulting in the denial of property and resources without due process of law provided other ethnic groups.”
“Lowndes County is one of the poorest counties in the State, primarily because of systemic racism dating back to slavery,” Toure said. “In 1930, a successful Black man was lynched because he had a thriving black-owned grocery store. In 1965, James Reeb, a White civil rights minister was killed by a White businessman because he advocated the rights of Black citizens to vote in a democracy. Due to systemic racism, endorsed and supported by the State of Alabama, Lowndes County continues to be economically and socially challenged and underserved. The instant action is an extension of its insidious efforts to deprive Lowndes County’s Black majority population of rights and benefits that have been historically denied or minimized for over 200 years. White Hall Entertainment provides much-needed services and benefits to Lowndes County citizens through its charitable contributions and social/cultural outlets. If the State succeeds under the subterfuge of “public nuisance,” the citizens of Lowndes County will suffer even more.”
Toure continued, “Defendants White Hall Entertainment, et al., and White Hall Town Council assert that people of African descent have suffered many of the same abuses and violations as Native Americans.”
“Yet, less than 30 miles from White Hall, Native Americans have a gaming establishment which is not being challenged as a public nuisance,” Toure said. “There is no law forbidding citizens of Lowndes County from going to that facility. To do so would be clearly unconstitutional. By that same reasoning, citizens of Lowndes County should not be penalized for engaging in the same or similar activity, nor should they be required to go 30 miles for such a social and cultural outlet. Moreover, attendance at the White Hall Entertainment facility produces revenue and economic benefits for the citizens of Lowndes County. The Federal Government has implicitly declared that gaming is not a public nuisance and did not forbid non-Native Americans from attending a gaming facility owned by Native Americans. To treat African Americans, similarly situated to Native Americans, differently, amounts to a denial of the equal protection of the law, which is prohibited by the Equal Protection Clause of the U. S. Constitution.”
The Attorney General's Office led the operation last year and received assistance and support from White Hall Police Chief Alvetta Coates and the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office.
"Today's operations reflect the ongoing enforcement of previous orders issued by the Alabama Supreme Court for Lowndes County," Marshall said in November. "The individuals, building owners, and operators of these illegal machines acted in defiance of the law, local court orders, and Supreme Court of our state. Rackets such as these will not be tolerated in Lowndes County or elsewhere in Alabama."
cdxsq5stfw24b30ghlokw4gq_d72454f4-6392-4843-b805-404eb00b2d86 (1) by Caleb Taylor on Scribd
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