Posted October 22, 2007 to GDN Headlines | Section Home | Print

Noose Incident Reveals Lack of Minority Inclusion

By Larry Miller

Special from the Philadelphia Tribune

PHILADELPHIA (NNPA) - For African- Americans, a hangman's noose is a symbol of murderous violence, brutality and a time in this nation when lynching a Black man was a common occurrence, especially in the Deep South.

It is a symbol of America's still deeply-rooted racism and the reason why officials from L.F. Driscoll, Liberty Property Trust and the Comcast Corporation said they stepped forward to address an incident in which an employee was dismissed from one of the city's largest construction sites.

David L. Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president, John Donnelly, Driscoll's CEO and William Hankowski, Liberty Property's chairman and president, adamantly said racial intimidation would not be tolerated at any of their job sites.

They also unanimously agreed that a peripheral issue, specifically minority inclusion in the city's building trades unions and contractors has long been an entrenched problem.

"We think we know what happened and we're all in the same place on this. Racial or sexual intimidation in any form is abhorrent and we have zero tolerance for this type of behavior," said Cohen, who detailed the incident at the Comcast Tower construction site in which a white construction worker tied a rope into a noose.

The worker allegedly made a comment that he wanted to hang someone and another comment about it being a necklace for his wife. What followed was a heated verbal confrontation with Paul Solomon, an African-American hoist operator who didn't find his co-worker's comments funny in the least.

"The White guy was an employee of a subcontractor and he shaped a rope into a noose," he said. "The hoist operator took that as a racially intimidating act."

According to Cohen, Driscoll's site manager was quickly made aware of what happened and that, regardless of what an investigation by law enforcement would reveal, the employee needed to be terminated.

"We made a collective conclusion that this worker needed to be permanently removed from the site," Cohen said. "I didn't care about whatever the police investigation showed. We had to take immediate, forceful and visible action to let employees know that type of behavior would not be tolerated at that site, or any of our sites."

An official police investigation indicated that the white co-worker denied making any overt racial slurs.

But Solomon said there's no doubt in his mind that it was a racial insult.

"Initially, he said he wanted to hang someone," he said. "The wife statement came later and I think it was just an attempt to water it down. He was looking right at me when he said he wanted to hang someone. The statement about his wife came when we were in the elevator. He said he was only playing around but I said, 'Man, you don't play like that.' They're trying to sugar coat this. I know what he said to me and I did not laugh or joke about it. He shook that noose in my face. I think law enforcement is taking this guy's position over mine but I know what happened. All I can do is report it to the proper authorities."

Cohen, Donnelly and Hankowski said their respective companies all have written policies regarding racial or sexual intimidation and insults.

They also said all of the city's building and trades unions have similar policies.

But as to whether or not tradesmen read the policy books are another matter.

"All the unions have written policies about racial intimidation," Donnelly said. "They're in little booklets so they know. Do all of the workers get it? Probably not, so I'm saying we need to take advantage of this incident to take these issues to another level."

Cohen said that he preferred a summit approach to outline the problems and implement a more level playing field.

"If this happened on our site, which has more minority contractors than any other site in the city, it can happen anywhere," he said. "We're going to be convening a meeting at all the major developers, contractors and unions to make a public and sustainable effort on zero tolerance concerning racial and sexual intimidation. We're taking this as a wake-up call to mobilize the construction community. Jack has been a leader in putting pressure on for minority inclusion in the trades. We need long-term pressure on the trades for this and substantial public projects for minority inclusion, continuing pressure."

Hankowski, who is Chairman, President and CEO of Liberty Property Trust, a multi-billion dollar real estate investment trust, said that a public summit would be the way to go, but didn't specify when such a meeting would take place.

"We need to approach this on a consistent basis and decide how to proceed forward," he said. "We have sessions on safety at the construction sites. We need the same approach on racial intimidation and on minority inclusion in the trades."

Allegations of racial discrimination have been leveled at Philadelphia's building and trades unions for decades.

Also of concern is the fact that qualified Blacks and other minorities have consistently been shunted aside from employment opportunities, not just in Philadelphia but also across the nation.

Anthony Fullard, Executive Vice President of Millennium 3 Management, who was an ironworker for 15 years and who ran his own construction firm, KKAJ Incorporated, said that is not an accident.

"We've been pushing at this for a long time," he said. "Local 332, which handles the cleaning and maintenance of construction sites, is the predominant union for Blacks and it's also the lowest paid. In the other trades, 80 percent if their membership lives outside the city and they're predominantly white males. That's not an accident."

Donnelly agreed.

"I've been unhappy with the contractors for a long time," he said. "I've said to them, 'we're not doing this right.' I also spoke with Michael Nutter recently and told him that should he become the next mayor if there's anything I want to work with him on, it's the problem of minority inclusion. The problem has not been solved. I've spoken with candidate Michael Nutter and told him that should he become the next mayor. I want to work with him on changing this."

Democratic Mayoral candidate Michael Nutter, who has been gaining support in both the public and private sector, including a recent endorsement by the Service Employees International Union, said changing the trades unions to become more inclusive is a major goal for his administration if he is elected.

"It's definitely one of my goals," he said. "I've had this conversation with Donnelly and other developers and we're absolutely focused on creating a more diverse workforce in the trades. When you look at all of current and planned construction in Philadelphia and the high unemployment rates in the African-American and Latino communities, there's no question that we have to get them into the trades. City residents should have the same opportunity to enter the building trades and make a good living as any one else. As for racism on any construction sites, all Philadelphians should be appalled by it and reject it. It's completely unacceptable."

A. Bruce Crawley, former chairman of the African-American Chamber of Commerce and president and principal owner of Millennium 3 Management Inc., has been an outspoken advocate for minority inclusion in the building trades for years.

Crawley said that having a summit on the issue is encouraging and that eliminating racism in the trades would benefit the entire city.

"Cohen did call me and said he wanted to have a meeting of the developers, contractors and the unions to create some sense of order at the sites," he said. "I think what gives me encouragement is that Cohen has a reputation for getting things done. Comcast of course has a stake in all of this so it's an image risk for them.

Also, it's been announced that he's going to be chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and he sees this as a principal problem. If Blacks can't get jobs within the trades, it's going to be a continuing economic problem for the city. I don't believe he's doing this just to make Blacks feel better, he knows the entire city benefits from our inclusion."