Former Employees Settle Race Discrimination and Retaliation Lawsuit in Arkansas

PRESS RELEASE
4-18-12

Little Rock Real Estate Company Settles EEOC Race Discrimination and Retaliation Suit

Bankers Asset Management Will Pay $600,000 for Excluding Blacks for Jobs and Punishing Employees for Complaining About Bias

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Bankers Asset Management, Inc., a real estate company in Little Rock, will pay $600,000 to former employees and a class of applicants to settle a race discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC), the agency announced today.
The EEOC’s suit, Civil Action No. 4:10-CV-002070-SWW, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division, alleged that the company excluded black applicants for jobs at the company’s Little Rock location based upon their race.  The EEOC also alleged that the company retaliated against other employees and former employees for opposing or testifying about the race discrimination, by demoting and forcing one out of her job and by suing others in state court.  The EEOC attempted to resolve this matter during conciliation prior to filing suit.
Race discrimination and retaliation violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In addition to injunctive and monetary relief, the three-year consent decree settling the lawsuit requires that BAM:

• provide mandatory annual three-hour training on race discrimination and retaliation under Title VII to all of its employees;
• have its president or another officer appear at the training to inform staff of the company’s non-discrimination policy regarding race and retaliation; that the company will not tolerate such discrimination; and the consequences for discriminating in the workplace;
• maintain records of complaints of race and retaliation discrimination;
• provide annual reports to the EEOC regarding such complaints;
• issue a memo to one of the hiring officials explaining that BAM does not discriminate on the basis of race and retaliation; and
• post a notice to employees about the lawsuit that provides the EEOC’s contact information.

“Excluding qualified individuals from job opportunities because of their race or in retaliation for exercising protected rights are fundamental violations of the laws we enforce,” said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez.  “As this case demonstrates, the EEOC is prepared to vigorously pursue such cases and resolutions that help ensure that workplaces will be free from discrimination.  Recent cases we have filed alleging hiring discrimination, such as our suit against Bass Pro, demonstrate this continued commitment.”
“We are pleased that this company worked with us to reach a satisfactory resolution in this matter to ensure black applicants will be judged based on their qualifications,” said Faye A. Williams, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Memphis District Office.  “The measures in the decree will work to ensure that African-American applicants are treated in the same manner as others, and that employees who have the courage to oppose race discrimination are protected against retaliation.”
BAM is an Arkansas corporation engaged in real estate, real estate-owned properties, broker management and asset management in the Little Rock area.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination.  Further information about the EEOC is available on its website at www.eeoc.gov.

Sanford, Florida Black Teen Gunned Down by Neighbor; Police Look Other Way

News Release
For Information, Contact
ColorOfChange.org
March 19, 2012

Civil Rights Group Launches Campaign Urging the U.S. Department of Justice to Arrest Trayvon Martin's killer and Investigate the Sanford Police Department

March 19, 2012

New York, NY – Civil rights group ColorOfChange.org today launched a campaign calling on the US Department of Justice to take over the case of Trayvon Martin, arrest Martin's killer, and launch an independent investigation into the Sanford Police Department's unwillingness to protect Martin's civil rights.

In an email to members, the organization makes the case that Sanford police botched their questioning of Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain who killed Martin. ColorOfChange members are now signing a petition calling on federal intervention on the grounds that Sanford police refused to take the full statements of witnesses and pressured neighbors to side with the shooter's claim of self-defense.

"The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin and subsequent mishandling of this case by Sanford police is yet another reminder that to some, simply being Black in America is a crime." said ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson. "While the campaign for justice in this case will not bring back Trayvon, this is an opportunity for people of all races to stand with his family and families across the country who have seen the impact of a justice system that places so little values on the lives and dignity of Black people."

Sanford's police department has a history of failing to hold perpetrators accountable for violent acts against Black victims. In 2010, the son of a police officer went free after beating a Black homeless man unprovoked. Five years earlier, two security guards went unpunished after killing a Black teenager who was dropping friends off at their homes.

The State Attorney's office has rubber-stamped the Sanford police's questionable investigation, claiming that there is not enough evidence to support even a manslaughter conviction.

"The ColorOfChange community sends its deepest condolences to Trayvon's family," Robinson said. "It shouldn't be a privilege for anyone to safely buy candy and soda at their neighborhood store. It is time for the Justice Department to step in and ensure that the rule of law is applied."

###

With more than 800,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest African-American online civil rights organization.

New Mexico, Civil Rights Author Releases Internet 's "TOP 10" List of Emmett Till Books

Media Release
Contact Susan Klopfer
http://susanklopfer.com
sklopfer@gmail.com

At right, A Chicago newspaper reports on the murder of young Emmett Till (may be subject to copyright)
* * * * *

(Gallup) -- In observation of Black History Month and the upcoming 57th anniversary of Emmett Till's murder in Mississippi on Aug. 28, civil rights author Susan Klopfer, has released a top 10 list of Emmett Till books and ebooks appearing on the Internet.

"These are books and ebooks that consistently come up in the first ten positions when Emmett Till is googled.

"And yes, of course I am pleased that both of my Emmett Till books are up high on the search engines," Klopfer said, "as well as my eBook, Who Killed Emmett Till? But all of these books are well worth reading, for anyone who wants to learn more about the modern civil rights movement."

The 14-year-old Chicago schoolboy, Till, was the victim of a racist lynching Aug. 28, 1955, in the rural Mississippi Delta.

"People there were angry after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, Brown v the Topeka, Kansas Board of Education, a year before Till's trip to the Delta in 1954.

Then the second Supreme Court decision, Brown II came, "and they were furious, because the second decision said they must integrate schools with 'all deliberate speed.'"

"It was already a horrible time for racism, particularly in Mississippi and the South, and people were in no mood for black children who stood out and didn't mind their manners," Klopfer said.

Till was forcibly taken from his relatives' home in the small cotton town of Money, after angering a local white store owner. Her husband and a relative beat and killed Till, after taking him to a barn at the edge of another town a county away. "His body was taken to still another location, tied to a cotton gin fan, thrown into the Tallahatchie River and was only found after it rose to the surface," Klopfer said.

The Emmett Till incident is seen as the spark that ignited the modern civil rights movement, according to major U.S. historians.

"Emmett's mother, with the help of powerful Chicago unions, got his body shipped back to Chicago. without the help of the unions, this could not have been done.She made sure that photos were taken and that the casket was open, so that people around the world could see what happened to her son."

A month later, the two men identified as Till's killer were acquitted by an all-whte jury. They later confessed in detail to a magazine reporter. But once they were found innocent, Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Ala. decide the time was right for her to take her civil rights stand -- to sit at the front of a city bus -- bringing the start of the modern civil rights movement in the United States.

"Parks later told Emmett's mother that she was thinking of Emmett when she decided to make her move."

Klopfer said it is important to place the Emmett Till story in proper context, and she recently posted an article, Eight Reasons Why the Death of Emmett Till is Important Today, on her Emmett Till blog at http://emmett-till.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-is-death-of-emmett-till-important.html where she frequently posts on Till and related civil rights issues.

That Till's death sparked the modern civil rights movement is listed as the first reason on Klofper's list.

Here is the googled list of Emmett Till books -- the top ten list as of today:

1. The Emmett Till Book
2. A Wreath for Emmett Till
3. The Lynching of Emmett Till: a documentary narrative
4. Who Killed Emmett Till? (eBook)
5. (a link to) Death of Innocence by Mrs. Till-Mobley
6. Getting Away With Murder: The True Story of the Emmett Till Case
7. 'Emmett Till': A Poem of Sorrow, and Hope
8. Eyewitness Account: Emmett Till's cousin Simeon Wright
9. Teacher's Guide for A Wreath for Emmett Till
10.Emmett Till in Literary Memory and Imagination.

Klopfer said her favorite Emmett Till book, "the book that motivated me the most to keep learning about this murder, was Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America by Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till.

"Till's murder was so atrocious. It really galvanized the civil rights movement, leaving an indelible mark on American racial consciousness. Whenever I have interviewed a black civil rights activist who is older, they have told me how Till's death was a defining moment.

"Mamie Carthan was an ordinary African-American woman growing up in 1930s Chicago, a young woman who was heavily influenced by her mother. She married Louis Till, and while the marriage didn't last, due to the husband's domestic brutality, they did have Emmett."

Till's mother went through "an incredible change," as she began her career of activism when she insisted on the open-casket viewing of her son's gruesomely disfigured body," Klopfer said. "It was a terribly brave thing for her to do."

It has been reported that over a hundred thousand people attended the Chicago service. "Perhaps even more people walked by that casket."

The trial of J. W. Milam and Roy Bryant, was considered the first full-scale media event of the civil rights movement. "European reporters, for the first time, covered a major U.S. civil rights-related trial. They went into the most dangerous part of Mississippi, at the time, to do their job."

Mamie Till-Mobley, "pulled herself back from the brink of suicide to become a teacher and inspire black children throughout the country. She died as she completed this memoir."

One of Klopfer's professional colleagues, Keith Beauchamp, the producer of the first extensive documentary on Emmett Till, "told me that he promised Mrs. Till-Mobley that he would keep this story alive.

"He did, and Beauchamp is the reason why our nation knows this story, better and better, as the years go by."

Jury selection begins Monday for a 45-year-old civil rights case in Alabama

Kathy Lohr of National Public Radio reports that Jury selection begins Monday for a 45-year-old civil rights case in Alabama. A former state trooper is charged with murder in the shooting death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a black protester who was killed in 1965. Jackson's death united civil rights leaders across the country and led to the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march.

Marion, Ala., 1965...In the Deep South of 1965, segregation was the law of the land. Anyone who protested against the system was met with violence. Not far from Selma, Ala., in Marion, a group of African Americans was gathering in a church at night. Alabama state troopers, including James Bonard Fowler, were called in to break up the meeting, and, using billy clubs, they began beating protesters, including 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson.

Continued --







 

Status of Black US Males in "Crisis" New York Report States

(Buffalo News) The Council of Great City Schools today released a stark report detailing the status of young black males in the United States.

“The nation’s young black males are in a state of crisis,” the authors write. “This report is likely to make people angry, and it should. We hope that this is a louder and more jolting wake-up call to the nation than this country is used to hearing.”

Some of the key facts they cite:

- Black males are twice as likely to drop out of high school as white males.

- Ten percent of black males have a bachelor’s degree, compared to 18 percent of white males.

- White males who did not graduate from high school earn $5,000 a year more than black males who dropped out. White males with a master’s degree earned $20,000 more than black men with a master’s degree.

Here's more --

http://www.cgcs.org/publications/Call_For_Change.pdf

SPLC Settles Wrongful Death Suit of 73-Year-Old Retired Black Man in Louisiana

Aug. 30, 2010
Southern Poverty Law Center
Morris Dees, Founder

Dear Friend,

I'm proud to tell you that we've settled the lawsuit we filed on behalf of Louise Marie Monroe, the widow of a black man who was shot to death by a police officer in Homer, Louisiana.

Earlier this year, we filed a civil suit against the town of Homer, seeking damages for the wrongful death of Bernard Monroe. The 73-year-old retiree was enjoying a family reunion on Feb. 20, 2009, when two white police officers came onto his property. Our suit claimed that the police officers created a volatile situation when they chased Mr. Monroe's son into the family home and shot the young man in the back with a Taser gun.
During the commotion, Mr. Monroe went to check on Louise Marie, his wife of 49 years. As he was climbing his porch stairs, one of the police officers in his home shot him several times through the screen door. Because he had lost his voice to cancer, Mr. Monroe was unable to call out during the incident. The officers said they thought he had a gun; several witnesses said he did not.

Morris Dees and Bernard Monroe's widow, Louise Marie

The settlement will allow Bernard Monroe's family and the town of Homer to move forward from this terrible tragedy. The town's attorney, Jim Colvin, agrees that the settlement will help heal the community. "The town needs an opportunity to recover from this unfortunate event. This settlement is a key step in that healing process."
Because of the nature of the settlement, I'm not allowed to disclose the amount of the monetary damages, and the town did not admit liability. Both officers have left the police department.

One of Mr. Monroe's family members told me how grateful they all were for the SPLC's help, saying that "everyone we met at the Center was kind and considerate" and that the attorneys were "real people who cared about our family."

But we could never have won justice for Mr. Monroe's widow and family without your support. As you may know, the SPLC takes no portion of the damages we win for our clients. Your dedication to fighting injustice and intolerance enables us to take on cases like this. Please accept my personal thanks for standing with us in this important case and all the other work we do.

Sincerely,

Morris Dees
Founder, Southern Poverty Law Center