RACIST? UNCULTURED? UNBOTHERED STAFF? Oh! No, Worries! You get it all here at Morongo Golf Club!
If there were an option for Zero Stars that would be my selection. My foundation participated in an event for Long Drive Magazine this past Saturday,and before we could arrive the event was effectively shut down. Apparently the "urban" music being played was "scary" to the members of the country club- so there was no one in attendance but we vendors and performers. Guests of the event had been alerted via social media that the gathering was a bust.
Toward the end of the event- one of the remaining performers got up to do his set- on extremely low volume, as he was essentially only playing to 4 vendor set ups. The performance was a beautiful display of what's called "Conscious Rap", which is empowering and positive in nature. Out of a nowhere a woman comes plowing over the greens- marching like she's going to war. We could see that she was gunning for the stage.
As she approached the front of the stage she took her hand across her throat in the "throat cut" motion and yelled, "Shut it Off!" She then did a sharp pivot and marched off, without another word. Had I been the person who booked this event- I would have been mortified. Had I been the performer on stage doing what I came to do- I would have been devastated, especially since the Rock band who played before- at top volume did not seem to scare anyone.
I caught up to the women, who's name was BREE BETTENCOURT, catering and sales- and asked her why she had done what she had just done. I wanted to know why that particular set of music had been shut down in such a rude way. She proclaimed, arms waiving in the air for effect, "The profanity coming from his mouth!!!!- I just couldn't believe!" I tilted my head to the side, looking at her in disbelief. "What did he say?" She looked stumped. I stated, "That kid didn't say one thing wrong. He didn't utter one obscene word. Ironically,his song was about unity." She was dumbfounded.
I then asked, "So, you saw the color of his skin- and heard obscene words?!" BREE BETTENCOURT then stated, "Well! I have had a day!!! My wedding is about to start and this music is supposed to be over!" I asked, " So is it that the music was obscene, or that the performer was being racially discriminated against?" She said, "I'm sorry, ok?!" I informed her that the kids on the stage, and the event organizers were the ones who needed the apology- and that she needed to take this experience with her. Whatever internal scheduling issues we're taking place- did not give her the right to discriminate, and then accuse someone of doing or saying something they did not say or do.
She looked bored with my assessment of the situation, so I informed her that I would be leaving this review, and calling the Golf Club to report her discrimination- she smiled as she turned away, and said, "Oh! No worries!!"
I'm writing this review because BREE BETTENCOURT was the representative for the racial tension of the day. She came right out her mouth and was ready to spew falsehoods to justify bad behavior, and did so without regard for paying guests, or threat of any reproach by her employers. "Oh! No worries!!" says to me: This is what we do here, at Morongo Golf Club. We are not culturally open, and if you don't pass the color line test- do not expect a drop of respect from us. I for one, will alert the masses to the fact, that in 2017- "urban" music-not profane- but, music generally performed by BLACK artists- is SCARY, at Morongo Gulf Club, and the general response to any complaint about bad treatment of racially diverse guests is, "Oh! No worries." I would like to personally thank BREE BETTENCOURT for opening my eyes to the fact that we've all still got so much work to do. Morongo Golf Club- you should be ashamed. read more