If the accusations are true against the College VP, it goes to prove my point, that racist folks don't see "special" black folks or black women. This man's wife does not fit the type that is considered a "Mammy", but the "Aunt Jemima" talked flowed easily from his mouth (supposedly).
I found this story over at Ebony Women and Ivory Men.
JURY SHOULD HEAR COACH'S CLAIMS HE WAS FIRED FOR INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE: COURT
BY THOMAS ZAMBITO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 2nd 2008, 4:00 AM
Ex-Iona coach Craig Holcomb says he was axed over interracial marriage to Pamela Gauthier. Theodorakis/News
A white former Iona College hoops coach scored big Tuesday in his two-year battle to prove he was fired because his wife is black.
The 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a jury should hear Craig Holcomb's claims that top-ranking officials at the Westchester school allowed racists to oust him from his job as top assistant to axed Iona basketball coach Jeff Ruland.
The court said a lower-court judge was wrong to toss out Holcomb's discrimination claim and sent the case back to trial.
In a first-of-its-kind decision, the court ruled that even though Holcomb is white, he still can make a claim that he was discriminated against because of his association with a black woman.
Holcomb accused Iona Vice President and former Athletic Director Richard Petriccione of repeatedly using the N-word to refer to black players and of calling a Nigerian employee a "jungle bunny."
In 2000, Holcomb says, he asked Petriccione if he'd received the invitation for his wedding to Pamela Gauthier, an African-American. According to Holcomb, Petriccione responded: "You're really going to marry that Aunt Jemima? You really are a n----r lover."
Petriccione also drew a racially tinged comparison between his players and those at rival Fordham, Holcomb said.
"Everybody at Fordham thinks they have these good black kids and Iona has n-----s," Petriccione said, according to Holcomb's complaint.
Petriccione has denied making the remarks.
School officials say they were "extremely perplexed" by the court's decision and claim that Holcomb was fired for poor performance.
"Diversity is one of the tenets upon which Iona's foundation and history is built," the school said in a statement. "The college is firm in its resolve to vigorously defend itself in this case."
Holcomb was fired in 2004 after refusing to resign and now teaches physical education at a Westchester high school.
"He's very happy to have his chance to have his day in court so that he can let the truth be told," said Holcomb's lawyer Jeffrey Udell.
tzambito@nydailynews.com
Another source with some additional information:
COURT: DISCRIMINATION LAW COVER WHITES WHO MARRY BLACKS
By Kenneth J. St. Onge
April 3, 2008
Anti-discrimination laws extend workplace protections to employees who have personal relationships with those of another race, a federal court in New York has ruled.
In a first of its kind decision, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that lower federal courts were wrong in ruling that a white basketball coach fired from Iona College was not discriminated against because of his marriage to a black woman.
Former assistant coach Craig Holcomb, who was fired from the New Rochelle, N.Y. college in 2004, alleged in a lawsuit that the school fired him because he was married to a black woman.
He was one of two assistant coaches – the other of whom was black – fired by the school. At the time he was fired, Holcomb was an assistant to Jeff Ruland, a white former NBA All Star and Iona Alumnus whose long-time girlfriend was a black woman and friend of Holcomb's wife.
In court papers, Holcomb showed evidence that an athletic director and a vice president at the school – two of the five officials responsible for firing him – used racial epithets and took other discriminatory actions against African-Americans.
Of central concern in the case was decision to ban Holcomb's wife, Ruland's girlfriend and high school recruits – most of whom were black – from alumni booster parties. Holcomb contended the move was part of a pattern of discrimination by school officials, one which ultimately cost him his job.
The school, however, contended that the firing of Holcomb and another assistant was due to their job performance. It also said that it had wanted to fire Ruland – the highest-paid employee of the school – but felt it would be too costly given his contract.
As far as the high school recruits who were barred from booster events, Iona officials said it was in response to its reading of NCAA rules that it claimed prevent colleges from allowing the practice.
The court agreed with Holcomb that "a reasonable jury could determine that Holcomb was fired in part because he was married to a black woman."
It remanded the case to one of two lower courts which had previously ruled in favor of Iona.
40 comments:
wow wow wow. unbelievable. more thoughts later...
thanks for posting info about this.
Oh now see! This is what scares me the most.
My husband is self employed. He's a scribe (writes those parchments that you see on doorways in Jewish buildings and homes).
Sometimes he's so naive? /sweet? about the whole color thing that he'll bring clients right into our home.
I get so nervous that they'll judge him and quietly cancel orders or something. And its soooo hard to prove!
But those folks in Craig's case were so blatantly bigots I don't understand why he didn't think maybe he shouldn't make a big show of his wife to them? I'm not blaming him. He shouldn't have to hide, but didn't he know who he was dealing with?
Siditty,
Damn you for posting this! The WM will think they can't keep a job if they date us now! :P
My dh and I have run into this at least once. I told him not to put the picture up, but he did it anyway. I have no proof, but I have an eerie feeling about his previous boss, and his being fired. I don't think they fired him because I'm black, but I do think there was a significant loss of white privilege which led to them treating him poorly.
I definitely intend to keep a lower profile on his new job. I'll be working too, so I won't be bringing him lunch or sending in cakes, cookies and such. I could be wrong, but my spidey sense is telling me that is what's up.
Wow. Are you serious? If this is true then the world is truly a messed up place :(
It's funny that his last name is Holcomb. I really need to forward this to my dh. He thought I was crazy when I tried to tell them this.
Yan, they already know this. That's why most of them aren't trying to chase us down.
Okay,
Where are all these IR experts encounging BW to get WM?
After you get the WM and he miraculously manages to marry you (given their legenday fear we hear about), what next?
Where are the IR marriage counsellors?
Miriam:
My husband is the same way. He is so naive when it comes to race. He thinks most people don't have an issue with it, simply because they don't say anything to him.
---
LOL@ Yan
I know I am chasing off the white men, but it had to be said LOL
---
I don't think they fired him because I'm black, but I do think there was a significant loss of white privilege which led to them treating him poorly.
I do think that happens a lot in many situations.
---
Wow. Are you serious? If this is true then the world is truly a messed up place :(
Soila:
The world is truly messed up. I would hope in this day and age people could marry who they want without repercussions, obviously in some instances, this isn't the case.
Personally if someone at my husband's place of employment said what that guy said, and they had banned him from going to social functions for fear he would shame them by bringing his black wife, I wouldn't want him to work there anyway.
I like how the school is trying to shrug it off and have no plans to apologize.
MIriam, I think it's so cool your dh is a scribe. I want one of those wedding parchments so badly. I just think they're so pretty. I wish we could have something like that.
I remember when we they put our engagement photo in the paper and mentioned where my dh worked. I didn't think it was a good idea, but he said he didn't want clients who would have beef with who he chose to marry. He's not naive, just a bit arrogant. He knows he's good at what he does and figures most people will value that.
This is real. Unsettling too. Indeed it explains why some choose to stay with their own. There is an unspoken message of what is acceptable and what is not.
Its not encouraging but these type of stories confirms that we are not bonkers when the scenario just seems a bit "off".
The conditioning starts early. I think I've told this story before, but it bears repeating.
A couple of years ago my dh and MIL took our son to the pool in my SIL's neighborhood. Keep in mind this is probably one of the most expensive, exclusive areas of this city. My son was about two at the time and another young boy of about 8 or 9 started playing with him.
At some point the boy turned to my husband and said, referring to our son, "He's really dark, almost as if he's black."
My husband replied that Luke's mother is black. The young boy was absolutely flabbergasted and said that his father had told him that black people and white people couldn't get married. Yeah, you read that right, some well-to-do white man in Huntsville AL told his son in 2006 that whites and blacks can't marry.
Thankfully my husband was struck dumb, so my much more diplomatic mother-in-law responded by telling the boy that his father was incorrect. Black people and white people get married all the time.
For all this guff I hear about black women rejecting IR dating, I've never encountered it in real life. Most of the black women I know, even if they have no interest in it themselves, don't give me grief about it. I write IR romances. My book has sold almost 7000 copies. At least one other author has told me that her IR romances do significantly better than her MR ones. I doubt very seriously that black women would be reading IR romances if they had no interest in IR dating.
The fact of the matter is, the overwhelming majority of white men have little to no interest in IR mating/dating. The loss of white skin privilege, and just general respect from their peers simply isn't worth it to them.
I thought NY was supposed to be more open-minded and liberal than southern states.
That is one of the reasons I cannot stand it when ppl criticise the south for its reputation for being racist. The south is not any worse for it's sordid past than anywhere else in America.
This is real. Unsettling too. Indeed it explains why some choose to stay with their own. There is an unspoken message of what is acceptable and what is not.
My reply:
It isn't unspoken; we (meaning black women) are just not present when the conversations take place. White men and women have been told forever that they are not to date or marry people who are not white, especially those who are black and not Asian or Latino. These conversations take place within all-white gatherings--homes, schools, etc.
The BF is self-employed and travels quite a bit for business.
He carries a picture of the two of us in his wallet (behind his DL).
He has never had anyone say anything nasty or rude to him; he even got out of a speeding ticket once because of that picture.(the cop was Black).
But I do think it's harder for people in office settings to deal with plain old stupidity.
Hmmmm.
I suddenly recalled Ben Affleck on afew occasions mentioning to interviewers including Dianne Sawyer that many people were against his relationship with J LO because she was Puerto Rican.
The reaction by these interviewers was always exactly the same,"really?, do they really?" They all acted oblivious of the realities of racism with in their own society.
I hear all sorts of polls saying that whites are more open to IR than before and people stating that no one cares anymore who dates whom.
Advice to BW, don't believe that mess. Judge people as individuals. To me the collective societal attitudes have changed very little if ever.
Even white anti racists will tell you that the last thing whites want, even though they castigate blacks for being shiftless, is equality. In other words to most of them you are supposed to stay in a certain postion.
What would happen to their status materially and psychologically if blacks acquired equal education levels, wealth, self reliance etc?
This to me says that regardless of your achievement you can never be accepted as a true equal. You will always be the black one. So don't expect your challenges as a black person to end by marrying IR or otherwise.
When you marry IR, your partner does not only lose his white privilages, but the black challenge begins for him.
And how many American White men are up to that challenge? And can you blame them if they choose not to go there ?
I am with Roslyn.I think an overwhelming majority of American WM can not handle IR marriage with BW. Its time for BW to acknowledge that reality.
DISCLAIMER;
I am black, single and very attracted to WM. So I am not trying to be the only one married IRly.
"The fact of the matter is, the overwhelming majority of white men have little to no interest in IR mating/dating."
At least with BFs...hell, even with other groups, there's a
"bottleneck effect" when it comes to dating vs. marriage, and we all know who would be the one to do the asking there.
Affleck's career still hasn't recovered from his little sojourn into 'la vida loca.' White women went absolutely batshit crazy dogging him out after that. You have to remember that old boy is from Boston, and we all know about the racial issues there. He immediately found the nearest WASP available and impregnated her. Thereby demonstrating his return to the white community and ensuring the perpetuation of white supremacy.
tenacious you only speak for yourself; therefore, shut the duck up.
Ann F.
I thought NY was supposed to be more open-minded and liberal than southern states.
___________________________________________
Ha!
I meant that sarcastically about NY. I figure it's no less racist than where I'm in Dixie.
Yet ppl want to claim certain areas of the US are less racist.
There is never a shortage of threads on the internet where black folk are asking which areas are safe for us culluds.
"He immediately found the nearest WASP available and impregnated her. Thereby demonstrating his return to the white community and ensuring the perpetuation of white supremacy"
LOL @ impregnating the WASP. Well he is settled and happy now I guess.
Isn't it funny that JLo's family too was on her case for being with PDiddy? The pecking order at work I tell ya.
This ruling comes too late for my twin and I. There's little doubt that my husband was fired for marrying me. He was expendable and the least likely to claim racial discrimination.
"I will openly admit I was scared to death to have my husband put a picture of me and him on his desk at his job he was working at the time."
Siditty: Hell, After what happen to JeffG at his former job I told him NOT to put a picture of me on his desk. It's sad, but we know the deal.
"tenacious you only speak for yourself; therefore, shut the duck up.
Ann F."
Really necessary?
In retrospect, were you targeting me, grata, whom I quoted and whose post directly preceded mine, or the both of us, Ann F.? Because I'm honestly confused about how my 2-odd sentences pissed you off.
"tenacious you only speak for yourself; therefore, shut the duck up.
Ann F."
HMM! Did I miss something tenacious said?
Grata said:
Even white anti racists will tell you that the last thing whites want, even though they castigate blacks for being shiftless, is equality. In other words to most of them you are supposed to stay in a certain postion.
~~~~
I hear that!
++++++++++++++++++++
Tenacious Bree, I don't think you said anything that merited such a "fighting response."
Perhaps some hispanic or Asian women might take offense if they don't want to be lumped in the same category, but the truth of the matter is: some WM -not all- just don't regard other non-whites with the same ranking as another W person.
It's sad that in 2008 a WM gets fired, punish, shunned or disinherited for marrying a woman of Color. But it's real and its happening at an alarming speed. The media and mainstream society doesn't want to talk about this sinister laundry because they want to maintain the illusion of color-blind, open-minded society, ignoring the real inequality and racism/sexism that is taking place every single day.
Years back, some right winger started a smear campaign against then senator Phil Graham because he was married to Wendy Graham, a Korean American. The same happened when President Bush's brother Jeb first ran for the Florida governorship. See, this hostility to IR is not limited to BW/WM. Other women of Color suffered from it as well.
Steph
Who could forget the attack on John McCain who has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh(?)? His opponents started a rumor that she was actually his biological child with a black woman.
BTW, Stephen Colbert did a hilarious take on this. God, that man is funny.
LOL @ impregnating the WASP. Well he is settled and happy now I guess.
And notice J lo went and married a Latino.
My husband replied that Luke's mother is black. The young boy was absolutely flabbergasted and said that his father had told him that black people and white people couldn't get married. Yeah, you read that right, some well-to-do white man in Huntsville AL told his son in 2006 that whites and blacks can't marry.
I am not surprised. I grew up with people telling me this. I took a white guy to prom, you would think the world would have shut down at my high school. The only way to deflect attention from us was the lesbian couple that went together. People have told me they couldn't go to church with black people because their preacher told them black folks were sinners, and we were marked and that God made the races to be separate and with damn any children from the unions of those who race mixed. My husband's former stepfather believes this as well.
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That is one of the reasons I cannot stand it when ppl criticise the south for its reputation for being racist. The south is not any worse for it's sordid past than anywhere else in America.
Kenya:
I so hate that perception too. There are too many racists all over the country of all hues that exist. It isn't geographically assigned.
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It isn't unspoken; we (meaning black women) are just not present when the conversations take place. White men and women have been told forever that they are not to date or marry people who are not white, especially those who are black and not Asian or Latino. These conversations take place within all-white gatherings--homes, schools, etc.
PioneerValleyWoman:
I agree. I grew up with many a white kid who blabbed about what their parents or grandparents said about black folks, and how they would be disowned, murdered, etc., if they ever considered even dating a black person.
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I am black, single and very attracted to WM. So I am not trying to be the only one married IRly.
Grata:
Yes you are. Share the WM!!!
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This ruling comes too late for my twin and I. There's little doubt that my husband was fired for marrying me. He was expendable and the least likely to claim racial discrimination.
Ms. ABC,
In terms of JeffG, that was jut trifling from what you and him describe that place was horrible anyway, you are better off. Did you guys ever think to sue or file a complaint with the EEOC?
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I think we all missed something Ann F.? What was said, could you elaborate please? If you don't feel like it don't, no pressure, just curious.
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The media and mainstream society doesn't want to talk about this sinister laundry because they want to maintain the illusion of color-blind, open-minded society, ignoring the real inequality and racism/sexism that is taking place every single day.
Until we can quit pretending everything is rosey, the issue of race will never be resolved.
----
Who could forget the attack on John McCain who has an adopted daughter from Bangladesh(?)? His opponents started a rumor that she was actually his biological child with a black woman.
I remember that Roslyn, I was looking hard at pictures of his kids after someone told me that LOL
It's good for people to not be naive, but I also wouldn't want bw walking around expecting their husbands to be fired if people see he is married to a non white woman.
It's certainly not a reason to not marry someone.
To Siditty et. al.:
Here's an excerpt from the April 2004 issue of Rolling Stone magazine regarding Ben's perspective on why he and J.Lo broke up:
"Affleck says he doesn't know why their union caused such a hostile reaction. "Hopefully I can get far enough away from it in time to be able to get a better sense of it," he says, although he suspects the hostility "had something to do with race and class. That pushed a button. This is a country that flew into a gigantic uproar about Janet Jackson's breast. There's still a heavy-duty puritan influence going on, and we still hold ourselves to a pretty chaste ideal, which includes, buried within it, the tradition of people being with people like them. We were thought of as two different kinds of people, not just racially but culturally." Perhaps that's why the tabloids have gone easier on Lopez dating singer Marc Anthony. Affleck lights another of his menthol Marlboro Lights. "Basically, it just came down to, 'Wow, I never thought those two would get together.' "
He's right about the "chaste ideal" thing, but, as Roslyn Holcomb puts it, he went out and impregnated and married the nearest WASP, i.e. Jennifer Garner, thereby enforcing the "chaste ideal."
As for the notion that BW resist IR, that's patently false and I resent the media for portraying us as such. We all know that white Americans favor the idea of IR as long as it doesn't involves them, their families, or their old-boy network. In other words, it's okay for "white trash" to have IRs, not the "nice white upper class people."
What say you?
Stephanie B.
"And notice J lo went and married a Latino".
That is one finding their level.
"Grata:
Yes you are. Share the WM!!!"
Sid,
Where is the love? Are you trying to get me to the guillotine?
If Affleck and J'lo broke up due to not being able to handle racial pressure, they are both wusses (or rather whoever broke up with the other is a wuss) and were together for all the wrong reasons to begin with anyway. No amount of racial hostility can keep two people who want to be together away from each other.
"No amount of racial hostility can keep two people who want to be together away from each other."
Keep in mind that these are two people of nominal talent who's very livelihood is dependent on public opinion.
I've heard Ben Affleck say that the reason they broke up was because of the media harassment. Personally, I think J Lo. liked the attention far more than he did. I'm glad they broke up. Together, they made bad movies.
(Apart, they've made bad movies, too, but he's made more good ones than she has.)
I doubt he married Jennifer Garner *because* she's a WASP. Didn't they meet on the set of a movie? And isn't that how he met J. Lo? And before her, Gwyneth?
There are plenty of IR marriages and relationships in Hollywood; it's probably more common there than in the general population. There's a lot of other reasons why those couples split up.
"There are plenty of IR marriages and relationships in Hollywood; it's probably more common there than in the general population."
Which is why I think it's, ah... misleading to use celeb IRs as representative of WMs general level of interest in IRs.
"There's a lot of other reasons why those couples split up."
Hollywood relationships are very tumultuous in general... note the comparative fame level of the people that J. Lo and Affleck married -- it isn't like they went off and created uber-power couples again, just from the same racial group. Maybe that's the "mistake" that they figured that they made.
"There's a lot of other reasons why those couples split up".
h sophia,
The difference with these two is that Affleck stated clearly that he felt alot of pressure from people not to be in the relationship.
There may be other reasons but the pressure had an undeniable force.
"Personally, I think J Lo. liked the attention far more than he did".
If Affleck didn't like the attention he wouldn't let himself be shown in a video literally kissing her butt.
My husband has similar innocence and is naive when it comes to the fact that some people may disrespect him because he is with me .....We have lost a lot of friends.We desperately wanted to rent our apartment to movetoFl .Every showing I would leave becasue I know how jewish people think ...
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