I read this book, Roberts vs. Texaco, several years ago and I was very impressed with the grit and intelligence of Ms. Bari-Ellen Roberts, a senior financial analyst at Texaco who lead a class action lawsuit against the company that included 1400 other disparately treated African American class plaintiffs.
What I found most amusing about this case is that Texaco was sued by its shareholders. In other words, Texaco sued itself for racial discrimination, an amusing twist considering that typically those who have taken legal action of this sort have encouraged financially boycotting companies that have embraced discriminatory practices...
After reading this book, which vividly describes the kinds of harassment that many if not most African Americans [and other especially minorities] in the workforce are subjected to, I was profoundly persuaded that it should be a movie.
I encourage you to read this book first of all. It is purchasable on Amazon by clicking here.
Though Roberts vs. Texaco was very impactful, it did not come full circle as a success, even in light of the $176 million settlement disbursed to its class action plaintiffs. I say this because Texaco never apologized or vowed to actually correct its mistreatment of its African American workers. In fact, they felt that they did nothing wrong. Roberts's recounting of the retaliation that she experienced ensuing the case, including Texaco terminating her employment (though she was only awarded what was tantamount to roughly a year's salary on her pay scale) further exemplifies this futility and an air of irresolution with this case...
...The purpose of bringing Roberts vs. Texaco to the big screen would not be to harm Texaco or any other companies; it would be to expose an epidemic crisis that is all too often minimized in corporate America. It would depict common workplace behaviors that are hardly acceptable in a civilized society, such behaviors that are all too often bred in and extended from the elementary school yard...
Bari-Ellen Roberts had been an A-1 student since the earliest years of her schooling, where she first encountered racial prejudice and discrimination. Her first encounter with discrimination occurred ironically at the whim of the first African American teacher she'd had, a "haughty" fair skinned woman—Miss Robinson—who resented her dark skin and "nappy hair," while her smarts had earned her special treatment from her previous all White teachers at predominantly minority Burdett Elementary School. She was among the brightest students in Miss Robinson's class, but was not allowed to shine because of her personal appearance. During her enrollment and attendance at the University of Cincinnati (summer) lab school, where she was the only Black child among twenty in her class, she was treated disparately, despite her wits, where especially it concerned White boys. Whereas they were inundated with encouragement and compliments and allowed to pursue independent study projects with no supervision, she was treated as a slow learner concerning work that she too could manage independently.
"When I compared myself with the other kids, I could only see one difference between us. I could read as well as any of the White kids and sometimes knew answers that the other kids didn't. But I was colored. I might get an "A" for my science project, but it wouldn't be quite as wonderful as some White boy's story. No matter how hard I tried, nothing I ever did won the same praise. At the lab school, White boys were at the top of the pecking order, followed by White girls, and then me. It seemed to be the nature of things, but it didn't feel right. My worries were not pronounced enough to keep me from enjoying the lab school and doing quite well. But they kept dogging me as I tried to make sense of the world... My three summers at the lab school had gone a long way toward restoring the self-confidence I had lost after the clash with Miss Robinson, and I felt like there was nothing I couldn't handle. White kids like the ones I met at the lab school might have possessions I could only dream about, but they were no smarter than me, and I had proof. I had beaten some of them to win the city's fifth grade spelling bee the previous year."
...A child's brilliance holds no significance in such an environment unless they are the "right" color and/or unless their hair is the "right" texture and/or style. Roberts vs. Texaco is most inspiring—not because of the 176 million dollar settlement that was won in this case—but because of the faith, courage, and excellence of Ms. Bari-Ellen Roberts. Properly addressing the issue of workplace harassment and discrimination would save billions of dollars in healthcare costs from stress related illnesses, replacing employees who call out due to such illnesses, and lost productivity...
Bari decided to file suit against Texaco while still in their employ when she was denied a promotion she was entitled to and asked to train the less qualified candidate the position was awarded to. She explains how Texaco had been the "Whitest" place she'd been since lab school in Cincinnati, and how, just as back in lab school, she was not permitted to shine, despite her exceptional performance...
The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a New York church group that was founded in 1973 (the year I was born, ironically) that buys stock in big companies so that they can attend shareholders meetings and contest their unscrupulous practices, connected Bari and her Co-worker, Sil Chambers,* with Washington, DC law firm Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll (*Bari describes Sil Chambers as bearing a striking resemblance to actor Lawrence Fishburne. Perhaps Mr. Fishburne could portray him in the movie); Mike Hausfeld, known as the "Toxic Avenger," would lead the team. Among other cases Hausfeld had previously filed a class action lawsuit for Native Americans after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
The importance of ICCR and the power at large of investing in the stock market is that it does give the stockholder a voice. It further magnifies that big companies like Texaco are not merely White owned; they have many owners and suddenly they are not so big and bad when we realize that they are just as dependent upon others—minorities included—for their success as minorities and others are dependent upon them for employment...
Mike threw the "long ball" to the victory of a $115 million compensation package for Texaco's class plaintiffs, an additional $26.1 million in pay increases for it fourteen hundred Black employees, and the investment of $35 million in the creation of an independent task force that would monitor Texaco's treatment of its minority workers for a five-year period...
These things are great; nonetheless, they had no lasting impact, however. The settlement that the plaintiffs received did not last very long, I'm certain, and, though the fourteen hundred Black employees received raises that would pay out circa $18,643 over a course of time, one could only imagine the hostility that those who stuck around to receive any of it had to endure. And payment of $7 million dollars per year for five years to monitor Texaco's treatment of minorities was absurd...
...A truly meaningful victory would have been a sincere apology and changed behavior/properly treating all of its employees, allowing Bari Ellen Roberts and any other employees who were terminated surrounding their involvement in the case to resign only if they wanted to, adding that $35 million that was paid out to the "independent task force" to the payout of the plaintiffs in the case and having the Department of Labor to monitor Texaco indefinitely for potential impropriety under the banner of its conventional duties...
A movie highlighting this case would exemplify how truly horrible minimization of the epidemic crisis of employment harassment and discrimination really is.
It would further shine a much-deserved spotlight on a lady who is one of my personal heroes.
A short documentary would follow the movie in which real Roberts vs. Texaco class plaintiffs and other employees (including managerial staff) would discuss their experiences preceding, during, and after the case, and, from their perspectives, what was and wasn't accomplished in the outcome of the case. Social psychologists and other professionals could further address workplace harassment and discrimination generally, and how investing in the stock market, as is demonstrated in the Roberts versus Texaco case, can be utilized [and better so] as a vehicle of holding big companies like Texaco and others to ethical standards.