April 6, 2006

Just When You Thought It Was Safe to be Black

By Bob Weir
In case you think racial discrimination is a pre—21st century nightmare, a relic of a bygone era in which skin pigmentation decided one's destiny and being black was tantamount to committing a felony, think again. A black employee at a company in Conroe, Texas, who had been subjected to racial epithets for the entire 7 months of his employment in the otherwise all—white establishment, discovered, to his everlasting regret, that race—hatred can still rear its ugly head. Charles Hickman, who worked at Commercial Coating Services Inc. in Conroe, just north of Houston, for seven months in 2002, said his white co—workers began using racial slurs from the day he was hired until the day they, literally, attempted to lynch him. According to a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) in 2003, Mr. Hickman was routinely referred to as 'nigger' by supervisors and others at the company. After being subjected to a daily demeaning assault on his...(Read Full Article)