I came across this at another message board:

Black Sues Black for Racism By Alex P. Kellogg, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted August 14, 2003 -- In an increasingly common racial discrimination case, a Black man won a settlement against another Black man for being degraded because of his skin color.

A dark-skinned Black waiter at an Applebee's restaurant near Atlanta alleged that his light-skinned Black supervisor was discriminating against him. To settle the suit, the company paid him $40,000.

Dwight Burch, a former employee, accused his manager at the Jonesboro, Ga., restaurant of repeatedly referring to him as a "tar baby" and "Black monkey" during his three months at the restaurant. Burch also alleged in his suit that his manager told him to bleach his skin and that he was fired when he threatened to report the man to officials at Applebee's headquarters.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission helped settle the "color discrimination" lawsuit, saying that such cases are on the rise. The number of cases involving allegations of skin-tone discrimination jumped from 413 in fiscal year 1994 to 1,382 in 2002, according to the EEOC. About 20 of the complaints filed during that time period have led to lawsuits, while most of the rest have been settled out of court. They currently comprise roughly 3 percent of the 85,000 cases the agency gets annually.

Burch experienced what Black scholars refer to as "colorism," discrimination within the Black community that goes back to the days of slavery in the United States, when Blacks with lighter complexions often received better treatment, such as less-demanding jobs and work in the master's house, while those with darker skin had to toil in the fields.

In a statement, the EEOC noted that Applebee's has added a protection against skin-tone discrimination to its anti-discrimination policies. Applebee's also agreed to provide employees cultural sensitivity training and to report any similar complaints of discrimination at its Georgia restaurants for the next year and a half.

Frank Ybarra, a spokesman for the restaurant chain, said in a statement that "No one should have to put up with mean and humiliating comments about the color of their skin on the job…. It makes no difference that these comments are made by someone of your own race. Actually, that makes it even worse." The statement also said the company denied the allegations but settled the case to clear the way for the sale of its Atlanta-area restaurants.

How serious is the issue of "colorism" in the Black community?

All I can say is only in America, however that has been going on for years I got that sort of treatment @ school & when playing after school etc..Being dark does unfortunately have a stigma within our own community..

This to me just tells me how stupid we are collectivley, because if it isn't black this, black that, its n***** this n***** that or Caribbeans running down Africans & vice versa or black on black violence in particular gun crime..

I'm proud happy honoured to be black, but our self destruction keeps on rolling & growing..1 more thing stop calling the sistas' b****** & hoes & in some of those music videos let them wear a nice dress or as my gran would say frock..Yes I did say (some)..

Our house needs to be put back "FIRMLY" on the right track, ever so much sooner rather than later..

jinstar, ''colourism'' is an epidemic in the black community. its not just light skin v dark skin, its more becoming dark skin v darker skin

@ the forum, does slavery have that much to do with colourism or is it jjust a way of masking desructive behaviour

This doesnt suprise me at all

I was going to post a similar topic on how we as a race can mistreat each otherwith regards to labeling and how some black females with no knowledge of self label black men and how the effects of labeling can hold back black males in society and in genral.

I was going to tie this into a personal experience of my own I recently had while attending a presentation interview as a mature student at university. These two black women who were tutors for thedegree courseinterviewed me, and from the time I walked into the roomfrom the way they greeted me from the way they spoke to me and their actions towards me you could tell they were deliberately being disrespectful because I am a black man they didnt shake my hand properly,they didnt listen to my presentation properly ,they put words in my mouth to questions I answered,they scrutinised my qualifications as if to say they were fake,and when I offered to show evidence of my work related to my presentation they didnt want to know.

Anyhow I managed to keep my cool as I was fuming inside but have since made an official complaint against the two concerned because not only did these two black b......... disrespect me on the day but they fu........ me up as I did not get into that University.

To think that instead of encouraging one of their own black menwho was trying to better himself by going to University as a mature student they decided to get rude on me. This is not the first time I have experienced this treatment from black females due to labeling.

I have had this conversation with my girlfriend who is abeautiful black queenand she agrees with me that there are some black women out there that are just out of order when it comes to black men as they have their own issues that effect the way they interact with brothers.These are the same sisters you see up on forums claiming there are no good black men and are now choosing to date out of their race.

Butifthose two tutors are reading this dont you worry cos this is just the begining as you dont know what you are dealing with and I am coming after you both.

Only not in the form of kicking ya door down and licking ya up lol , Oh no I am much too smart for that stupidness.But I can promise you the stress and worry I am going to bring into your lives over court cases etc you will be thinking twice about disrespecting another black man the way you did to me I can promise you that.

ZACK wrote:
damn, i wouldn't want to cross your path.:?

seems like everything has calmed down.