Michael Harriot | The Root
Trigger warning: Before going any further, we feel it is our duty to forewarn our black readers that this story contains details some may find laughable and could be construed by our African-American audience as the simple reality of being a black person in corporate America. But this story is different. The acts are far more egregious for one simple reason:
They happened to a white woman.
Deadspin has obtained a lawsuit filed by a former employee of the Atlanta Hawks (don’t ask me how; technically, we’re the same company, but those guys get all the good dirt) alleging that the NBA franchise engaged in a terrible pattern of reverse discrimination by promoting black people, laughing and even stooping so far as to ask her to do better before they fired her.
On Friday, Margo Kline, a community-development coordinator for the Hawks, filed a lawsuit accusing the team and her supervisor, David Lee, of promoting “a culture of discrimination against white people.” The suit lists a number of blatantly racist acts by Lee and the team, including:
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Ignoring and being dismissive of white people, especially white women:Which technically makes me racist, too. But we’re not here to talk about me.
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Making jokes about white culture: Wait … you can be sued for that?
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Making it clear he wanted to hire black people instead of white people:Again, Kline was the community-development coordinator … in Atlanta. Atlanta! Are there even any white people in Atlanta? I know there’s Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, the people who write the Real Housewives scripts and “White Kim,” the tenured exotic dancer at Pin-Ups. I think that’s about it. It’s really not a difficult “community” to develop.
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Expecting more out of white employees than black employees: Which, if true, would be the first time this has ever happened. Maybe the Hawks were giving them gradual reparations for slavery.
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Promoting and hiring less-qualified black employees over white ones, especially white female workers: Typical. When will white women evercatch a break?
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Giving raises and promotions to black employees: Again … reparations, maybe?
