Those who believe racism, discrimination and bigotry is over in this country are fooling themselves. The result of a recent lawsuit by workers against a trucking company in Denver proves racism is live and well in this country’s businesses and institutions.

Seven warehouse workers at Matheson Trucking and Matheson Flight Extenders Inc filed a lawsuit against the company in 2010, but the results of that lawsuit were handed down earlier this month. The workers were awarded $15 million dollars in their racially charged discrimination case against the company.

Management and employees regularly called the black people in the company ni**gers and “lazy, stupid Africans.”

The judge found the company discriminated against workers “in all phases of employment, including hiring, termination, conditions of employment, promotion, vacation pay, furlough, discipline, work shifts, benefits and wages,” the Daily Mail notes.

The Denver Post reports the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the company were of Mali decent, one from Brazil and one white whistleblower. For the whistleblower’s trouble of doing the right thing, he was labeled “the tribe’s assistant” and eventually lost his job after complaining about the unfair treatment endured by his co-workers.
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The Denver Post reports the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the company were of Mali decent, one from Brazil and one white whistleblower. For the whistleblower’s trouble of doing the right thing, he was labeled “the tribe’s assistant” and eventually lost his job after complaining about the unfair treatment endured by his co-workers.

The white employee was Dean Patricelli. He told the Denver Post, “Basically, I did the right thing. This isn’t 1960 anymore.”

The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Ernie Duke, Mahamet Camara, Andre De Oliveira, Bemba Diallo, Salif Diallo and Macire Diarra.

According to the employees’ lawsuit, which was filed in 2010, things became unbearable in 2007 when Leslie Capra became the station manager. The lawsuit claimed that Capra was “more openly hostile toward black employees.” As such, working conditions quickly deteriorated.

The verdict, which was handed down Wednesday, “includes $13 million in punitive damages, $318,000 in back pay for workers who were fired for being black and another $650,000 for emotional distress,” according to the Denver Post.

SOUND OFF: Are you surprised by this case? What do you think the workers should do with their settlement money?

Source: The Root