Filed under: News
A group of black Southern California Edison (SCE) employees recently filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging racial discrimination dating back to the '70s. The plaintiffs claim that SCE has routinely passed over black employees for promotion, and discriminates based on race in hiring. The plaintiffs also allege that they contend with a racially-hostile work environment, in addition to unequal pay and job assignments. This is not the first time that SCE has been accused of racial discrimination, having faced discrimination class action suits in 1974 and 1994. Consent decrees from both lawsuits required the company to make "good faith efforts to increase the employee population and improve the opportunities for African-Americans ." However, as reported by Southern California Public Radio, the numbers of black employees at SCE has decreased by approximately forty percent since the most recent suit in 1994.
Although we should not jump to conclusions or presume guilt based on previous behavior, the allegations made by the plaintiffs in the SCE class action suit are disturbing. If true, these allegations show a pattern of racial discrimination against black employees embedded so deeply in the culture of SCE that two previous lawsuits weren't enough to get the company to change its management style. It appears that SCE does not even want to make the slightest attempt at treating black employees fairly.
A story like this one should be like cold water in the face of those who want to deny that there is still racism in this country.
From the Shirley Sherrod firing, to the NAACP resolution asking the Tea Party to address the racism in its membership, race issues are really coming to the forefront in America in a divisive way. Now we have Senator Jim Webb of Virginia claiming that white privilege is a myth, and that affirmative action in all its forms should be disbanded. These events and more show how important it is that we remain aware of the racial reality in this country, no matter what people try to claim. The reality is that racial injustice still exists, regardless of the objections of ignorant people who want to ignore it.
Blacks and other non-whites still face systematic and ongoing discrimination such as what these black employees at Southern California Edison are claiming. Some black people have been scared into silence because they have been shamed by conservatives against "playing the race card." Yet, it would be the epitome of foolishness for black people to allow our attention to be distracted from the issues that significantly impact us by accepting the false arguments of those who have the most to gain from distorting reality.
I commend the employees of Southern California Edison for taking a stand in the midst of our culture of denial.