feeling rebloggy
NBC COVERAGE OF GM RACISM SCANDAL
A lawyer for black workers suing General Motors over alleged racial bullying at an Ohio plant where nooses were found two years ago claims the harassment there is ongoing.
"The hostile environment has continued and reached a retaliatory level," said Michelle Vocht, a lawyer representing a group of black current and former workers at the Toledo plant who sued the automaker in April 2018.
The suit alleged the company failed to take prompt corrective action after black employees at the GM Powertrain and Fabrications plant reported acts of racism, such as the hanging of nooses and "whites only" bathroom signs.
Read More: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-workers-gm-plant-where-nooses-were-found-allege-racial-n959956
DETROIT FREE PRESS COVERAGE OF GM RACISM SCANDAL
...The lawsuit described various other alleged incidents of racially hostile remarks and epithets in the last four years, including:
- White employees calling black employees "boy."
- A female black employee being called a crude, racist slur.
- Swastikas painted and scratched on restroom stalls.
- Stick figures with nooses around their necks drawn on restroom stalls.
- White workers wore shirts under their coveralls with visible Nazi symbols on them.
- Black employees told to be careful because a white employee's "daddy was in the Ku Klan Klan."
- White workers telling black workers to go back to Africa.
- "Whites Only" signs hung on restroom stall doors and written on walls outside the men's restroom.
- A white supervisor, at a meeting, saying, "What's the big deal about nooses? There was never a black person who was lynched that didn't deserve it." The supervisor was not disciplined, the lawsuit said.
GM's reaction
The alleged behavior did not just target black workers.
In one instance, a white woman running for a union office happened to be dating a black man, the lawsuit said. Her election posters throughout the plant were, "defaced with racial slurs and drawings of black penises," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said because GM failed to take prompt corrective action in all the incidents, it created "an atmosphere whereby hate-driven employees felt free to hang nooses, display racist graffiti, and verbally attack and racially insult African-Americans. These symbols of the historical torture and lynching of African-Americans touched each of the plaintiffs, were a personal affront to each's dignity and caused each fear for his or her safety."
I have questions aside from why GM didn't take corrective action (because I already know why --GM didn't give a damn) .
My questions are these:
My questions are these:
1) Why weren't the police been called? For the noose? For the whites only sign?
...which also begs the question...
2) Why haven't some of these people been hauled away in cuffs on hate crime charges?
2) Why haven't some of these people been hauled away in cuffs on hate crime charges?
And by the way, regarding the supervisor that said, "What's the big deal about nooses? There was never a black person who was lynched that didn't deserve it."
The only corrective action, that will leave African American workers feeling safe there, is for him or her to be fired, and anybody with decision making authority above that person to be fired.
I would think that some of these crimes should have been worthy of federal hate crime charges.
According to the, Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center...
Hate crime laws are very different across the nation. Some state laws protect many more groups than others. Ohio has a relatively weak hate crime law, while the federal government’s law is much stronger and more inclusive. Ohio's hate crime statute (ORC 2927.12) is not a standalone crime, but offers additional penalties for crimes motivated by race, religion, color, or national origin.
Read More: https://ocvjc.org/news/rights-focus-hate-crimesThis appears to mean that the federal route is the only option for putting some of these people in prison because Ohio doesn't appear to have any "stand alone" hate crime laws at all.
In the meantime, I say the boycott is on.
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