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Not Surprising – No, Not At All

By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column

     Have you read or seen the recent CNN national report regarding blatant discrimination at the local GM Powertrain plant.

     Two black men, among others, were targeted by white employees with a continuing barrage of racist harangue and the placement of hanging nooses around the plant where they worked as supervisors.

     If you are incredulous that this is happening in Toledo and in these current days, you are very juvenile in your thinking about the state of race relations in these United States.
 


Lafe Tolliver, Esq

     And if you are gullible enough to think that such Klanish actions could not still be occurring in the North (aka: Up South) you are sorely mistaken.

To be kind, not all corporations or businesses engage in either overt or covert acts of discriminatory treatment and some do a commendable job in ferreting out the bad actors that can blemish their reputation.

      But, my beef is with the business entities that, when they are informed of a toxic racial environment, they either shrug it off or they drag their feet in their "investigation" and are lackluster in turning over every rock and pebble to find the Neanderthals that engage in reprehensible racial and sexual discriminatory acts.

     Make no doubt about it. When black people move into white corporate America and when they are in positions of power and authority and especially so over white people, some white folks take grave offense at the mere thought that some black man or woman can order them what to do and how to do it.

     According to the allegations of the two aggrieved black males, they promptly reported these acts of racial aggression to management and in return, the GM management ostensibly yawned and did minimal checks and passed of any chastisement to be done back to the two black supervisors!

     As is the case so many times, it is only when offended minorities file lawsuits that the business entity comes to the table with a contrite heart and promises of change in the workforce.

     However, left to their own devices, these racially challenged companies would turn a blind eye to racial and sexual complaints and will only get engaged and serious when the Ohio Civil Rights Commission brings them to a hearing or a lawsuit is filed.

      I have been fighting and filing civil rights and employment discrimination cases for 40 plus years and it is my considered opinion that Toledo is not a commendable example of racial tolerance in the workplace!

      I have had the opportunity to sue many, many local corporations, companies, the City of Toledo and the police force for allegations of racial harassment; and there is only two things that such malefactors respect: (1) adverse publicity and (2) a well-placed lawsuit suing them until they get a financial nosebleed.

      Anything else is of minimal value or use.

It is my position that white, corporate America, unless they are born again, have no problem with being racist, until they are caught and then they want to wring their hands behind a lot of hocus-pocus press releases saying how tough they are in their internal protocols in rooting out vestiges of racial discrimination.

      Don't believe the hype! They are supposed to say such things. They are instructed by their fat-cat law firms to issue such pithy but empty policy statements. That is just part of white, corporate America.

      White, corporate America have never, with open arms, welcomed people of color into their inner sanctums of power and privileges and financial perks.

They give lip service to "ideals" of equality and fairness but when the rubber hits the road, normally it is a lot of cold lumpy mush.

       And when those policies do not equate to fairness on the job or thorough investigations of racists in the workplace, a lawsuit is the only sword that can be swung to cleanse a racially-stained workplace.

       My experience has been that when complaints are made against white managers, it is the white manager who is given the benefit of the doubt and the complaining minority employee is treated as if he has leprosy and is then made the scourge of the earth when he goes back to the same racist-riddled environment.

      I give kudos to the current head of the local office of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission for her assertiveness and aggressiveness in ferreting out racial policies or practices that, on their face appear neutral, but in their application are knives when they cut and injure minority employees.

      In my legal career I have had to interface with other past directors of the O.C.R.C. and in my opinion, their vigorous championing of civil rights was not worth a crust of moldy bread.

     I hope the black men/women who are now engaged in this pitched battle with GM Powertrain are able to take GM to the cleaners and to have GM clean house of those employees who think that racist antics on the job are permissible.

     The acts of black men and women going to work and having to fight for their mental health and safety in a hostile workplace is cruel and unusual punishment and is long past due of being eradicated.

     To those who are fighting GM in this current struggle, stay strong and realize that GM will only capitulate if and when the evidence says or shows that GM was knowingly complicit in allowing or condoning a hostile work environment.

Remember: It is not the size of the tiger in the fight but the fight in the tiger!

Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com

 

 

 
   
   


Copyright © 2019 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 01/24/19 13:38:36 -0500.


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