Three black nonprofits received checks Tuesday totaling more than $32,000 from the Albertsons grocery chain as a goodwill gesture after allegations of a decade of racial harassment at one of the chain’s distribution centers in Aurora.
The allegations surfaced early this year when distribution- center employee Matthew Ricks filed a civil suit saying that since 1995 he was repeatedly harassed at the warehouse where racial slurs and racist drawings appeared on bathroom fixtures, walls and warehouse racks. He said the drawings included blacks and Hispanics with nooses around their necks.
The chain settled with Ricks for an undisclosed amount.
Last month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the chain in U.S. District Court over the alleged racial and ethnic harassment.
The grocery chain on Tuesday announced it will contribute quarterly sums through 2009 to nonprofits that are dedicated to youth and education.
Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb was among those in the crowd who packed a Five Points coffee shop to hear the details and applications for the Denver Youth & Education Community Outreach Program.
Future recipients will be chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of consultants, lawyers and Denver community activist Alvertis Simmons, who served as a liaison in planning the program. It was brokered by Calhoun & Associates, an Alabama firm that helps companies with diversity issues.
“We were hurt,” Simmons said. “Not only do you have to settle with (Ricks), you have to settle with the African-American community and the Latino community. These things shouldn’t happen to anyone, anywhere.”
The first round of nonprofits received money Tuesday: The African American Leadership Institute received $15,400, Rocky Mountain Reeducation Center got $6,000 and Macedonia Baptist Church was given $11,000.
Marcia Williams, community liaison for Albertsons LLC, said the donations are separate from the EEOC case and that the money is meant to “strengthen the relationship with the store and the community.”
It’s a good gesture, but it won’t stop the EEOC from pursuing its case, said Nancy Weeks, an EEOC attorney.
“We hope they are trying to mend their ways,” Weeks said. “If a company has an image of not being friendly to minorities, that will affect who applies to work there, who shops there. It’s always good to try to change your image after something like this.”
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
