6 Black And Hispanic Workers Sue Kansas City Contractors, Including Alleged Proud Boy, Over Alleged Racism And Violence

Not that we needed more evidence that the Proud Boys is a white nationalist group full of racist yokels who drape bigotry in pseudo-patriotism, but an alleged member of the group is also a foreman of the Kansas City Streetcar extension project, of Kansas City, Missouri, which is being sued by six Black and Hispanic workers, who say they’ve been subjected to a “culture of race-based hostility and discrimination” on the project’s job sites

According to The Kansas City Star, the plaintiffs in the discrimination lawsuit — which was initially filed in Jackson County Circuit Court before being moved to U.S. District Court in Kansas City last month — are Javier Buendia, Jonas Buendia, Oliver Curry, Carl Hunt, Joseph Martin, and Charles Watkins. The six men named a laundry list of individuals and corporate contractors as defendants.

From the Star:

The lawsuit names contractors on the project, the Herzog Contracting Corporation and the firm Stacey and Witbeck, and their joint venture KC Streetcar Constructors, as well as two local unions, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local No. 101 and the Heavy Construction Laborers Local No. 663, as defendants. Also named as defendants are three individual employees, Bryce Shields, Josh Ayres and Chris Greenwood.

“Plaintiffs worked and felt at the mercy of the terroristic whims of whomever chose to target them with race-based discrimination, harassment, or hostility as well as sexual harassment,” attorneys wrote.

The lawsuit faults the companies and the unions for not correcting the problems on the job sites and not intervening on behalf of the men and is seeking damages over the incidents.

The suit claims the six employees faced “monthly and sometimes weekly and daily” instances of having to endure racial slurs and other racist statements from white co-workers and foremen, at least one of whom, attorneys say, was discovered to be a member of the aforementioned group of far-right extremists who were doing all the far-right extremist things when President Donald Trump famously instructed them to “stand back and stand by” during his first term. It’s unclear which individual defendant named in the suit is alleged to be a Proud Boy.

Anyway, examples of the racist incidents the employees say they faced include one from 2023, when a foreman, who plaintiffs say regularly referred to Black people as “monkeys,” allegedly remarked, “These monkeys I have on my crew ‘bout to drive me crazy.”

Curry, who is Black, claims that in June of last year, a white employee threatened him with a strap that was on a trailer, saying he would “find a tree to put it in,” before looking at Curry pointedly, which he interpreted as a lynching reference.

Curry was also identified in the suit as the employee who discovered that one of his bosses is a Proud Boys member, and he claims that the foreman witnessed an incident in which an employee called Curry the n-word repeatedly, and he did nothing about it. Curry says he had to complain to a superintendent for the racist employee to be fired, but the foreman’s inaction was never addressed.

And while that superintendent did reportedly fire the slur-slinging co-worker, they are also accused of making racist and violent remarks, specifically, in 2023, when they allegedly said Black men should “end up in a noose.”

In addition to the racial slurs and lynching threats, the Black employees say they were being accused of thefts they didn’t commit and threatened with more racial violence by white workers who insisted they were guilty. Some of those white employees are also accused of making good on those threats

More from the Star:

In another incident, a supervisor allegedly accused several Black employees of being responsible for break-ins on job sites without evidence. In others, the same supervisor allegedly made a racially offensive remark, accusing Watkins, who is Black, of stealing a watermelon he brought to a worksite, and made an unfounded accusation that he wasn’t working.

In an episode in 2023, a group of white workers allegedly assaulted a Black man who they caught trying to break into a site, the lawsuit said. Two of the men tied the man up, held him to the ground, covered his mouth with duct tape, punched and kicked him and pushed their boot-clad feet into his genitals, the lawsuit said.

“Back where I’m from we lynch people like you,” one of the men said several times, according to the lawsuit. Another employee offered to get his truck in an apparent offer to drag the man

The allegations of racism and general depravity go on and on, and there seems to be an air of truth to it, because, in November 2023, management for the project reportedly held a meeting to address the issues of harassment, name-calling, and other complaints, as well as introduce disciplinary policy changes. However, no one who was already accused of such activity was disciplined at the time, according to attorneys, who have accused management of covering up the behavior instead.

“The change in policy and the associated expungement of the employees’ records indicates an attempt to clear the record of any evidence of racial or sexual harassment on the construction sites,” attorneys wrote in the suit. “The attempted cover-up of complaints and disciplinary history is evidence that Constructors knew of the complaints and the hostile work environment and chose not to address it.”

Any Black person who has worked in a predominantly white workplace knows navigating racial microaggressions, harassment, and flat-out bigotry can feel like a second job all on its own. It’s also an uphill battle to get anyone who can do anything about it to believe it’s even happening.

Good luck to the plaintiffs in this case. We know the struggle is real.

SEE ALSO:

Texas Man Sues Former Employer Over Alleged Racist Prank On Juneteenth

Feds Punish Company With ‘Whites Only’ Job Listing