NNPA - According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis-sion the number of race-based discrimination cases in America has increased dramatically since 1980, when no such cases regarding nooses had been filed with the office. The EEOC has at least 30 noose-related law suits and is currently investigating more, said EEOC representative Paula Brunner. While most nooses are hung anonymously, Andy Jones, third year mechanic at the South Side Waste Water Treatment Plant, took great care to let everyone know that the noose displayed from the rearview mirror of his truck which he parked on city property belonged to him. Co-workers say that before the noose, it was the confederate flag he brandished, on belt buckles, bandanas and on tattoos, which he proudly displayed by rolling up his sleeve.

Despite being told that his behavior was highly offensive, Clement Bernard, Instrument Supervisor for South Side Waste Water Treatment Plant, said he continued this kind of behavior without appropriate redirection. On Oct. 3, his virulence would not be displaced as he not only displayed the hangman’s noose once, but after being asked to take it down by a supervisor, returned to work again with an even larger noose now displayed from the ship of his truck.

“On Oct. 5, the City of Dallas investigated a complaint regarding an incident at the South Side Waste Water Treatment Plant. The incident involved an employee who had a hangman’s noose displayed from the rearview mirror of his personal truck as he parked the vehicle on City property. The Human Resource Department was asked to conduct an investigation based on the provision of the City of Dallas personnel group.

The Human Resource Department completed their investigation on Tuesday, Oct. 23 and concluded that the employee created a disturbance in the workplace and was insubordinate to his manager,” said Tennell Atkins, Dallas City Councilman, District 8. Atkins also stated that on Oct. 25, the director of Water Utilities issued a disciplinary action to four employees, included were three members of management, who received reprimands and one employee, who received a five day suspension without pay.

According to Faye Jackson, her life since the incident has been tumultuous, to say the least. She says she has experienced an overwhelming since of abandonment and feels that little, if any, attention has been paid to what she describes as a hostile work environment which she says has been made worse by the treatment she received during the investigation by the Human Resource Department personnel.

Jackson, a single mother, says she was called before the investigative panel and made to feel as if her actions in reporting the hanging of the noose were wrong. In fact, Jackson said that she was told that she should have been able to stand up to Jones and confront him about the noose herself and that she should not have involved her immediate supervisor, Clement Bernard. However, Jones said what disturbed her more was their interrogation about her knowledge of the hangman’s noose.

“Keith Garrett, Benavidez, Mr. Evers, from HR, you know they were all there asking me questions and saying, ‘...well Faye don’t you know back in the 1920s, or some time frame they gave, that capital punishment was hanging? I told them, ‘no I didn’t know that.’ Then they went on to ask me, ‘Well, did you know that cowboys were hung back in the day’ and if I actually knew the difference between a hanging and a lynching.”

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