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Black Workers At Tyson Poultry Alabama Plant File Suit Re "Whites Only" Facilities - RI10 Repub I of II (Resolution to Follow)
This is August 19, 2005, and Southern White bigots are still attempting to revive segregation NOW.
Tabacco is republishing today's Newsday New York Article here.
Black Workers At Tyson Poultry
Alabama Plant
File Suit Re
"Whites Only" Facilities
Nation
'Whites only' sign stirs a suit
Black workers take action after notice allegedly put on bathroom door at Alabama Tyson plant
BY DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY
WASHINGTON BUREAU
August 19, 2005
WASHINGTON - The way African-American workers tell it in the lawsuit filed last week, the "Whites Only" sign was posted on the door of the freshly renovated bathroom at Tyson's poultry plant in Ashland, Ala. Only white employees had the keys.
After some complaints, the sign was removed, but the bathroom was kept locked, and the refrigerator and cabinets in a new employee lounge were padlocked. Only white workers had keys.
"When I was young, my mother used to tell me stories about segregated bathrooms," Henry Adams, a plaintiff in the suit, wrote in a statement. "I never thought that her reality of 71 years ago would become my reality today."
Adams and 12 other African-American workers at the plant filed a discrimination suit last week against Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer.
The regional office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is also suing Tyson for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination. The nonpartisan Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law also stepped in on the workers' behalf.
"While this country has made great strides in addressing issues of racism, unfortunately, there are still people who have not yet gotten the message that segregation in the workplace will not be tolerated", Bernice Williams-Kimbrough, district director of EEOC's Birmingham office, wrote in a statement.
Tyson officials said they investigated the allegations and found they have no merit.
(Tabacco Comments: Are you surprised?)
"We're surprised and disappointed by this legal action", Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for the Arkansas-based company, wrote in a statement. "The presence of any sign suggesting whites only or segregation of any kind is, without a doubt, a violation of our corporate polices and contrary to our corporate culture".
He said the company has "zero tolerance for racism".
In the lawsuit, black workers said an "Out of Order" sign was posted and the bathroom kept locked soon after it was renovated in the summer of 2003. Meanwhile, some white workers, including a supervisor, had keys and used it. Soon after, the "Whites Only" sign appeared, the lawsuit says.
A lawyer for the workers said a white employee reported that a supervisor told him to post the sign. It was removed, but black workers who complained said they faced retaliation, from suspensions to firings. A break room once used mostly by blacks was closed that summer. In a new lounge, the refrigerator and cabinets were locked and only whites had keys, the suit says.
Over the years, black workers were also subjected to racial slurs and comments, according to court papers. In one case, the lawsuit said, a picture of two monkeys with black workers' names underneath was posted on the locker of a black employee.
Lawyers for the workers said the racist sign pushed them to take legal action.
"They couldn't be quiet anymore," said Audrey Wiggins, a staff attorney with the Lawyers' Committee.
The workers are asking the court to force Tyson to set corrective polices. They are also seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages.
Wiggins said the suit should send a message that "the 21st-century workplace won't tolerate this kind of situation."
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This is August 19, 2005, and Southern White bigots are still attempting to revive segregation. Wake up America, we are under siege. This is neither 1963 nor 1863. But segregation or slavery of Black people can occur again if we don't keep on guard forever. Whatever we may have achieved, it can all be taken away in the pounding of a gavel. So cut that smug look, that placid thought, that comfortable demeanor and never forget the past or the "Past" will rear its ugly head again, and you'll be living in 1953 forever.
BLACKS HAVE GOT TO SEND A MESSAGE TO CORPORATE AMERICA THAT THEY CAN NO LONGER DISCRIMINATE AGAINST BLACKS WITH IMPUNITY. BLACKS MUST BOYCOTT THE PRODUCTS OF TYSON FOODS TO DEMONSTRATE TO ALL AMERICAN BUSINESSES THAT THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY FOR BLATANT DISCRIMINATION. BLACKS STOPPED RIDING THE BUSES IN MONTGOMERY, AL, IN 1955 AND ALMOST DROVE THE MONTGOMERY CITY BUS SYSTEM INTO BANKRUPTCY. WHY DO WE NOT REPEAT SUCCESSFUL ENDEAVORS? IF IT WORKS, KEEP DOING IT UNTIL THEY FIND A WAY TO STOP ITS SUCCESS. WHENEVER THE RIGHT WING RELIGIOUS LEADERS DON'T LIKE A TV SHOW, THEY THREATEN TO BOYCOTT THE SPONSORS. THAT IS USUALLY ENOUGH TO PREVENT MAJOR NETWORKS FROM RUNNING THAT SHOW. BLACKS MUST DEVELOP THAT KIND OF FINANCIAL INTIMIDATION. BLACKS SPEND LOTS OF MONEY IN THE U.S.A. THERE IS POWER IN UNITY. MY IMMEDIATE PLAN IS AS FOLLOWS:
1- Contact NAACP, Urban League, Black churches, Muslim mosques & other major minority organizations about boycotting Tyson Foods.
2- Call for all minority organizations to form a Confederation, which will enable them to coordinate major operations nationwide and increase the overall power of these organizations.
3- Contact minority newspapers, minority television personalities such as Gil Noble (Like It Is on ABC), Tony Brown's Journal re the Newsday article about Tyson Foods and enlist their support.
4- Get this story out across the nation, but particularly to Blacks in Alabama - if you have friends or family in Alabama, make sure they know about this atrocity. I did an Internet "Find" yesterday on the Black employees' suit against Tyson Foods and got very few hits. We must get the word out; the media has ignored this story.
5- Anyone, who reads this Blog and has an idea or a contact who could assist in this venture, please contact the writer by a) commenting on this Blog or b) emailing me directly at: contact@tabacco.blog-city.net
BLACK AND WHITE CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, IN THE PAST, DIED TO HELP BLACKS ACHIEVE EQUALITY. LET US NOT DISHONOR THEIR SACRIFICES BY SITTING ON OUR HANDS NOW. IF WE DO NOT GO FORWARD, WE MOST CERTAINLY WILL GO BACKWARD!
Thanks to my cousin, Aldine, in Seattle, WA, for the Boycott idea - I missed that one.
T.A.B.A.C.C.O. (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)