Oscars don't diminish the race problem in America

Sadly, complaints of racial and sexual harassment are hardly "news" in the American workplace, even as Black workers in Hollywood seemingly have reached a new plateau.

While Halle Berry and Denzel Washington basked in the glow of Hollywood stardom as recipients of the top Oscar awards�after years of allegations by the Black community that Oscar couldn�t find Black people�workers at General Motors and Xerox are alleging discrimination and racist acts are occurring like they did decades ago.

Fifty workers at GM filed a $7.4 billion class-action lawsuit, alleging two facilities in Michigan failed to protect Black workers from harassment and discrimination. Workers say such acts include a White job foreman wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit in the workplace, telling several Black workers, "I am the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and you niggers better get your act together," and supervisors using such terms as "buckwheat" to refer to workers.

The suit seeks an additional $10 million in compensatory damages from the automaker and hopes to pull as many as 450 additional workers into the suit.

GM disputes the claim, saying it actively sought to address "a small number of unfortunate incidents" in Pontiac, Mich., and that the company generally cracks down on harassment and discrimination whenever possible.

Meanwhile, Xerox Corp., the copier company, is facing 30 complaints filed from around the country within the last month with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claiming racism is common in the workplace. And many more are expected. The allegations include: A picture of a Black female employee was doctored by a White supervisor to portray her as a prostitute; small dolls depicting Blacks and "Afro-picks" were hung from nooses in the workplace in Cincinnati, Ohio, among other ignorant acts.

Since Sept. 11 last year, as the government has launched laws that attack the very civil liberties that Americans hold near and dear, racist and xenophobic stereotypes have been increasing throughout the society, despite the calls by federal government officials for a spirit of "One America," united and standing together against hostile enemies abroad.

These attacks are fueled by the anti-Islam, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant of color spirit in the country that makes it easy for bigots to operate.

Thus, it is somewhat ironic that while these charges have come to light, a barrier in Tinsel Town has been broken down for the time being. Let�s not forget that it was Hollywood that projected the negative images of skinnin� and grinnin� Negroes who shuffled and danced their way into American households when they could not physically enter those same households without being threatened with death. It is Hollywood that continues even today to pump an updated version of those images throughout the world.

While there will be much debate about the fact that Denzel and Halle won the awards and about the characters they portrayed, nevertheless, they have paid their dues and deserve to be honored for their talent. They should have been honored a long time ago.

Actors fighting racism in Hollywood and Black workers fighting racism in the workplace is one fight. That�s why we can�t let a promotion, a big check or a statue to sit on your mantle make us think the struggle is over in the good ol� U.S. of A.

FinalCall.com