Racial Harassment

The issue of increased racial harassment on college campuses nationwide took center stage during the first week of Cultural Awareness Month at Cal State Northridge. CSUN's racial awareness task force was established by university President James W. Cleary last year after a recommendation by a student government subcommittee. Members of the task force--made up of students, faculty and staff--will evaluate recommendations that evolve from a series of campus meetings this month.

Two black aircraft mechanics at Kelly Air Force Base said Monday they were harassed by co-workers who rode in a government van and wore pillowcases that looked like Ku Klux Klan hoods. Kevin Harris and Phil Head, both mechanics at the reservist 433rd Airlift Wing, said they also were subjected to other incidents of racial harassment at Kelly before filing administrative complaints with the Air Force over the Sept. 16 van episode.

A Latina office worker who said she was harassed for racial and religious reasons in a virtually all-black division of the Los Angeles County Health Services Department was awarded more than $220,000 by a Superior Court jury Monday after 12 days of deliberations. A black co-worker who said she was mistreated after telling a hearing officer about a supervisor's efforts to get rid of the Latina was awarded $99,000 by the same jury.

The U.S. Department of Education has told the state-run Compton Unified School District to reduce racial discrimination and harassment faced by Latino and black students on campuses. The agency's Office for Civil Rights recently completed a two-year investigation into students' and parents' complaints about racist treatment from school staff on such issues as grades and discipline.

Federal prosecutors dropped felony charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy Tuesday against a Normal Heights electrician accused of helping his son cover up a racial hate campaign that drove a black family from their neighborhood. In a plea bargain, Earl Matthew Maas instead pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of federal tax violations during the last two years.

Once again, a black, oily substance oozes down the front door and steps of the Pitt Street Uniting Church in downtown Sydney. Every week for months, the church has been defaced--apparently by racists. For two years now--ever since South African anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke here--the Rev. Dorothy McMahon and her parishioners have been harassed.

Five Nissan employees filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging their employers at a parts distribution warehouse in Costa Mesa ignored their complaints of racial and sexual harassment and, in some cases, retaliated against them for speaking out. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Nissan North America Inc.

Los Angeles County will pay more than $300,000 to settle claims brought by an employee who said she was subjected to racial and sexual harassment by a top manager in the county's Department of Public Works. County supervisors voted 4-0 behind closed doors Tuesday to settle the case after a county investigation confirmed Diane Lee's allegations. The investigation also found more than a dozen other women who complained about the behavior of the manager, Thomas J.

Thousands of blacks and Asians in Britain are victims of serious racial violence and harassment each year and the problem appears to be getting worse, according to a new study released Wednesday. The study was conducted by a watchdog group called Runnymede Trust, an educational charity formed in 1968, which collects and disseminates information to the public on race and immigration.