Worker Records Racist Boss Saying Fountain is For "White People Only"

By Night Editor  |  June 4, 2014 | 1:30am
Latest

A black worker at a cotton gin in Tennessee was so fed up with a racist boss, he used his phone to record proof of the abuse.

According to WREG, Marrio Mangrum and Antonio Harris, who are both black, said they dealt with racist taunts and comments daily at the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse. They said their supervisor referred to black workers as “monkeys.” Mangrum said the man told him to “think like a white man.”

Harris said he finally had enough and used his phone to record a particularly heinous conversation with the supervisor, in which he was told a water fountain was for “white people only:”

Hey!” says the supervisor in the recording.
“What?” asked Harris.
“I need to put a sign here that says `white people only.”
Harris also recorded his attempt to use the microwave.
“I am going to use the microwave,” said Harris in the recording.
“Hell no!” said the supervisor.
“Why can’t I use the microwave, man?”
“Because you are not white.”
[…]
In the recording, the supervisor also talks about the days when black and whites were kept separate.
“Back then, nobody thought anything about it. Now everybody is made to where to think it’s bad,” says the supervisor in the recording.

But wait, we’re not quite done with the horrific shit recorded by Harris. “Put your sign on the wall then, because I am feeling to drink it,” said Harris. “What would they do when they catch me drinking your water?”

“That’s when we hang you,” said the supervisor.

They were called “monkeys,” told to think like a “white man,” and threatened with hanging for drinking out of a “whites people only” fountain.” I’ll remind everyone, this is happening in 2014. In 2014, where too many people think racism totally doesn’t exist or isn’t a problem anymore in America.

The two men filed a discrimination claim with the EEOC, which is now in mediation with the cotton’s gin owner. The owner of Atkinson Cotton Warehouse told WREG he outsources management at the warehouse, but declined to comment further. When WREG tried to reach the manager in question (whose name they did not release) they were told he was on vacation.

Welcome to Post-Racial America, everyone! Stop and smell the roses—isn’t it just grand?

Screencap via WREG.

 
Join the discussion...