Anthony Jackson Challenges Injustice on Fort
Carson
Photo of truck Jackson presented evidence at the press conference of a Range
Control Inspector using government property for their own use. Pictured is a truck
assigned to Range Control, as it was off-Post for an inspector's private use during work
hours. Fort Carson officials have neither denied nor acknowledged this incident.
Colorado Black Press - Anthony Jackson, a Civil Service employee in
the Department of Range Control on Fort Carson, held a press confer¬ence outside Gate 1 at
Fort Carson on December 23, 2009 concerning his claims of racial discrimination at the hands
of his supervisor, Jose Colon, and the Director of Range Control, Dan Bedford. Jackson complained
to his supervisor Colon that many of the heavy maintenance activities he and fellow range
inspectors were being requested to perform were not in the job descrip¬tion approved by the
Department of Defense. Jackson was told that despite not being in the job description, he
would have to continue doing these activities if he wanted to keep his job. Shortly afterward,
Jackson sustained a back
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injury while lifting telephone poles for Range Control
without the assistance of the machinery typically provided for that type of work Jackson filed a worker's compensation claim and was
assigned to limited duty there¬after until his injury was rehabilitated. Mr. Jackson also
sought assistance from union representatives in order to address the discrepancies between
the job description and what range inspec¬tors were actually required to do in the field.
Immediately, Jackson, the only African American range inspector, was met with retaliatory
assignments from Colon such as more heavy maintenance of the type that would normally be performed
by four or five range inspec¬tors, all by himself, despite his injury. Jackson then filed
a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Office at Fort Carson to address this retalia¬tory
treatment. At this time, Director Bedford offered to promptly address this discrimination
by Colon so that Jackson could continue his employment at Range Control. Jackson at this
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Albertsons Settles EEOC Discrimination and Retaliation Claims
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Employees Subjected to Swastikas and Lynching Drawings and Punished for Complaining, Federal
Agency Charged
DENVER - Albertsons,
LLC, a national grocery chain, will pay $8.9 million and furnish other relief to settle three
employment discrimina¬tion lawsuits filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC), the agency announced today. The EEOC had charged Albertsons with race, color, and
national origin discrimination and retaliation at its Aurora, Colorado, distribution center.
The monetary relief will be distrib¬uted among 168 former and current employees.
All three of the EEOC's cases stemmed from incidents at the
Aurora distribution center, which is being closed for unrelated reasons. The first case, EEOC
v. Albertsons LLC, Civil Action No. 06-cv-01273, was filed in 2006 and alleged a pattern or
practice of workplace harassment and discrimin¬ation based on race, color, and nation¬al origin.
According to the lawsuit, minority employees were repeatedly subjected to derogatory comments
and graffiti. Blacks were termed "n-----s" and Hispanics termed "s—s," among other offensive
epithets.
The EEOC said the offensive graffiti
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included racial and ethnic slurs, depictions of lynchings,
swastikas, and white supremacist and anti-immigrant statements. The graffiti in a commonly
used men's room was so offensive that several employees would relieve them¬selves outside
the building or go home at lunchtime rather than use the rest-room. Some of this graffiti
remained for years until the restroom was remod¬eled in 2005.
The EEOC also charged that minor¬ity employees were also given
harder work assignments and were more fre¬quently and severely disciplined than their white
co-workers. According to the EEOC, managers were aware of and even participated in the harassment
and discrimination.
The second lawsuit, EEOC v. Albertsons LLC, Civil Action No.
08-CV-00640, was filed in 2008 and alleged a pattern or practice of retali¬ation. The EEOC
alleged that dozens of employees complained about the discriminatory treatment and harass¬ment
and were subsequently given the harder job assignments, were passed
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Minority Businesses Locked Out of Stimulus Loans
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New America Media, News Report Aaron Glantz
Loans handed out to
struggling small businesses as part of President Barack Obama's stimulus package have largely
shut out minority busi¬nesses - especially those owned by Blacks and Latinos - according to
data provided by the federal government's Small Business Administration (SBA) to New America
Media (NAM).
On June 15, the SBA, using money from the $787 billion American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, launched the ARC program, America's Recovery
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Capital, giving banks and credit unions 100 percent guarantees so they're taking no risk when they make loans of up to $35,000 to previously successful, currently struggling small businesses to help them
ride out the recession.
Under the program, the borrower pays no interest and makes no
payments for 12 months, then has five years to repay the loan. SBA charges no fees and pays
interest to the lender at prime - the rate of interest at which banks lend to favored customers
- plus 2 percent.
The Obama Administration
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Inside This Issue |
| Black Press |
2 |
Special Supplement |
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| Community |
3 |
African American Community |
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| Auto |
4 |
S1 |
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| A Year in Review |
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| Calendar |
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| Education |
9 |
S4 |
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| Health |
11 |
S5-S6 |
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| Community Network |
12 |
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Juneteenth Partners & Advertisers
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Continued: Loans
Civil rights groups and representa¬tives of the minority business commu¬nities reacted with
anger when told of NAM's findings.
"It's just horrendous," said Anthony Robinson, director of the
Washington, D.C.-based Minority Business Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF). "During
this economic recession, there is no recognition or sensitivity to the need to support and
benefit people of color."
"The data raises troubling ques¬tions" and should trigger an
investi¬gation”, says Oren Sellstrom of San Francisco's Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
"This should be a red flag
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Statement by Julie Reiskin, Executive Director Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition
does not report the racial breakdown of who's benefiting from these loans at Recovery.gov,
but data obtained by NAM from the SBA found that of the 4,497 ARC loans where the race of
the borrower was reported, 4,104 (over 91 percent) went to white-owned firms, 140, (3%) went
to Hispanic-owned businesses, and 151 (3%) went to Asian- or Pacific Islander-owned businesses.
Only 65, (1.5%) went to black-owned firms.
Overall, white-owned
businesses received over $130 million in loans through the program, while Hispanic-owned businesses
got $4 million and black-owned businesses less than $2 million.
In five states - Alabama, Arkansas, New Hampshire, South Dakota,
and Wyoming -- every single firm that received an ARC loan was white-owned. In eight other
states, including Louisiana and Nevada, all but one loan went to a white-owned firm.
I find it appalling
that in this day and age an African American can be shown a noose at work and that the authorities
do not respond with outrage and immediate action to protect the victim—there is no legitimate
business reason to have a noose in an office and any adult should know that showing such a
thing would be seen as intimidating by any African American. No one should have to endure
such hatred in the workplace—however the bigger betrayal is that our government is not standing
up for victims of hatred and failed to take decisive action to stop this behavior.
Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition 303-839-1775 phone 303-839-1782
fax NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US-EVER
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