___________________________________________
"You have, basically, a
renegade police department up here, that’s been operating under the protection
of Congress," Charles J. Ware, the attorney who first represented the U.S.
Capitol Black Police Association, said at the time the suit was announced.
The complaint alleges that officers
have been denied promotions because of their race or sex, that the officers
were subjected to a hostile work environment, that some officers were wrongly
fired and some were subjected to sexual harassment. "The Chief, Deputy
Chief and the assistant chiefs, are all White males, and (are) all involved in
this conspiracy of protecting their fiefdom, for up-and-coming White
males," said Mr. Ware.
___________________________________________
"BLACK CAPITOL HILL POLICE LAWSUIT BACK IN COURT"By Askia
Muhammad
White House Correspondent
Updated Dec 9, 2003 - 4:15:00 PM
White House Correspondent
Updated Dec 9, 2003 - 4:15:00 PM
WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - Black officers in yet another federal law
enforcement branch are returning to court in order to settle racial
discrimination allegations against their employer.
Attorneys representing more than 350 Black U.S. Capitol police
officers headed back to court Dec. 5, pursuing their two-year-old discrimination
lawsuit after 11 months of fruitless settlement negotiations.
"It is unfortunate that nearly a year of valuable time and
significant client funds were wasted after Defendant’s in-house counsel
professed a desire to settle this case" in January 2003, attorneys Joseph
Gebhardt and Nathaniel Johnson wrote in a letter Nov. 14 to a U.S. District
Judge, requesting a hearing in order to return their case to the active
litigation calendar, according to a published report.
They say the U.S. Attorney’s office has dragged its feet, and that
the Capitol Police Department refuses to provide any payments to the numerous
active and retired officers. They allege that the department also refuses to
create an oversight board to monitor the settlement reached in any agreement,
and refuses to provide a forum for the officers, the Capitol Police Board and
its Chief to hold quarterly meetings "in order to engage in high level
discussions on ending discrimination and retaliation."
Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office,
which represents the Capitol Police Board, declined to comment on the case
because it is still being adjudicated.
The U.S. Attorney’s office did file a motion in 2002 seeking to
dismiss the case entirely, citing the 1995 law which supposedly protected
legislative branch employees under 11 civil rights workplace and
anti-discrimination laws. Until the 1995 law took effect, Congress had exempted
itself from most provisions of the civil rights laws it requires private-sector
employers and even other government agencies, to obey.
This action by Black Capitol police officers is not the first such
case. During the last 20 years, Blacks in every single federal law enforcement
branch have filed class action suits alleging racial discrimination in
promotions, discipline, awards, assignments, hiring, terminations, performance
evaluations, training assignments, hostile work environment, and retaliation
against them for their equal employment opportunity activities.
A similar class action lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court
recently against the Secret Service. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) settled class-action
racial discrimination cases during the 1990s, but ATF agents went back to court
last year, claiming that the federal government had refused to make all
agreed-upon payments to the Black officers.
"With little or no positive and unbiased recruitment of African
American males and females and other minorities, the Capitol Police will
continue to be a modern day version of a 19th Century Southern Plantation in law
enforcement," the original 47-page Black Capitol police complaint said. The
horror-story-laden lawsuit includes accounts from long-time veteran
officers.
"You have, basically, a renegade police department up here, that’s
been operating under the protection of Congress," Charles J. Ware, the attorney
who first represented the U.S. Capitol Black Police Association, said at the
time the suit was announced.
The complaint alleges that officers have been denied promotions
because of their race or sex, that the officers were subjected to a hostile work
environment, that some officers were wrongly fired and some were subjected to
sexual harassment. "The Chief, Deputy Chief and the assistant chiefs, are all
White males, and (are) all involved in this conspiracy of protecting their
fiefdom, for up-and-coming White males," said Mr. Ware.
At the time the lawsuit was first filed two years ago, one veteran
Black officer told The Final Call that whenever he sought a promotion,
bogus charges would be filed against him in order to clutter up his personnel
file, although no charge has ever been substantiated against him.
"The Capitol police force has proven over and over that it is
capable of intimidation, reprisal; that’s part of our complaint," said Mr. Ware.
"That’s part of the hostile work environment that has persisted in the Capitol
Police Department that has persisted forever, going back to the first time that
the first Black person became a police officer. To the extent that there is
reprisal and intimidation, they only serve to make our case. We expect that.
That’s what we’re suing for. That’s part of the problem."
The force has 1,200 members, of whom 357 (or 29 percent) are
Black, according to the complaint. In the higher ranks—detective and
above—Blacks hold 32 of 244 slots (or 13 percent), which is down from 16 percent
of those slots held by Blacks in 1993.
