DeKalb County’s Darker Administration
About five years ago, one black and three white current and former DeKalb County, Georgia, employees sued Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones for racial discrimination. The plaintiffs alleged that Jones fired white employees and replaced them with blacks to reflect the percentage of blacks in the county.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals cited evidence that showed there was “an overt and unabashed pattern of discrimination,” refused to dismiss the complaint, and sent the case back to trial court. (Source)
One can’t miss the irony involved in these kind of cases. Decades ago, few blacks occupied positions that allowed them to wield such power. Times have changed, but human nature hasn’t. Blacks with hiring/firing power can and do discriminate against non-blacks. Cases like Michael Bryant v. CEO DeKalb County and Ricci v. DeStefano show that the law is no respecter of persons. It protects any individual, regardless of race, whose rights have been violated.
