By Sean Yoes, Baltimore AFRO Editor, syoes@afro.com
A report of nooses being used to intimidate Black employees of a construction site in San Francisco is linked to a Maryland construction company. It’s not the first time the symbol of racial intimidation and violence has been tracked back to the company.
Nooses were found on a construction site run by Bethesda-based Clark Construction. One of the companies many current projects is a building in Wheaton, Maryland (pictured) which will house Montgomery County municipal offices. (Courtesy photo)
The New York Times reported on June 22 that three Black construction workers were repeatedly targeted by racial slurs, death threats and dolls hanging from nooses on the site of a San Francisco high-rise. The three men, Craig Ogans, Douglas Russell and Don’ta Laury, who are elevator operators at the site, filed a complaint recently with the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment against Clark Construction, which is based in Bethesda, Maryland. All three said they were harassed regularly, including a threat with a knife and discriminated against by co-workers in an effort to force them to quit.
Grace Gatpandan, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department, said the nooses were discovered in April and the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime. No arrests have been made.
“Clark Construction…does not tolerate harassment or discriminatory behavior,” the company said in an emailed statement to the Times.
However, less than two years ago Clark Construction said it was “committed to maintaining a work environment that respects all employees and does not tolerate any action of this type on its projects,” according to the Washington Post.
The report in the Post came after nooses were discovered at a Clark Construction site Nov. 28, 2016, according to the company’s vice president at the time, Matt Haas. During the incident in 2016, the company conducted an investigation and determined the nooses were traced back to a subcontractor who was terminated from the project, according to Haas. Then the company said they conducted a series of discussions with personnel after the incident to “underscore Clark’s zero tolerance policy for such action, which will result in immediate termination,” Haas told the Post.
After the recent reports of racist intimidation in San Francisco, Clark said, “it is implementing a number of new initiatives, including working with the NAACP San Francisco Chapter to provide cultural sensitivity training for site employees, and producing new jobsite signage that promotes respect and tolerance and encourages workers to report any and all incidents of harassment,” the company said in a statement.
According to the Times, the three men plan to file a lawsuit against the company.
