If you believe in this cause , Please stand up and be counted, let them know that you are behind them.
Thank You
Lisa,
Bravo!! Bravo!!
To me this is one of the most brilliant letters that you have ever written in my opinion over the last 13 years I have known you and stood with Lawrence Lucas and the rest of the Coalition in our chronic struggle against discrimination, violence, retaliation and reprisal.
I support you and will continue the support Coalition in our struggle with USDA.
.
Arach J Wilson
Ames,IA
From: Lesa Donnelly [mailto:lesa@snowcrest.net]
Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 12:39 AM
To: Wilson, Arach J (APHIS); bernardbenton@msn.com; Benton, Bernard; 'myee@csupomona.edu'; McFarland, Janine; mcastelles@aol.com; nofearcoalition@aol.com; epstein101@verizon.net; Epstein, Linda; HTrice3996@aol.com; ward.tj7@gmail.com; 'john boyd'; rosalingray@aol.com; cindylouiowa@aol.com; Ford, Earl; leandra112@yahoo.com; jebankst@comcast.net; James, Vionette (APHIS); Tootle, Jennifer; annzilla@aol.com; davis4000_2000@yahoo.com; espirite-radio7@espirite-radio7.net; landrightsnfarming.seamom89@gmail.com; Kriesch, Penny E (APHIS); pennykriesch@comcast.net; charleswsims@msn.com; amahra hicks; linda.t.larson@aphis.usda.gov; Taylor, Willie - Vicksburg, MS; Banks, Nora FAS; Molly Cortez; LeroyJr1MDFree@msn.com; alovely@comcast.net
Subject: Fwd: Please See Attached Letter to Barack Obama
The White House
President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
May 19, 2011
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Dear Mr. President –
My name is Lesa Donnelly. I am a former 24-year employee of the USDA, Forest Service and currently Vice-President of the USDA Coalition of Minority employees. The USDA Coalition of Minority Employees (The Coalition) is an employee resource group founded in 1994 that addresses issues of harassment, discrimination, workplace violence, reprisal, workplace bullying, equal pay, and other civil rights issues within the USDA. I am writing to you because we need your assistance to contact Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack about the serious incidents of workplace violence, harassment, intimidation, discrimination, and retaliation being perpetrated against women and minorities at USDA. Secretary Vilsack will not speak with us despite numerous requests in the past two years.
For years, The Coalition has worked with members of congress to address civil rights issues, meeting with senators Charles Grassley, Tom Harkin, Richard Lugar, Chuck Robb, Barbara Boxer, and Ron Wyden, to name a few, and House members, Nancy Pelosi, Bobby Scott, Grace Napolitano, John Conyers, Mike Honda, Joe Baca, Maxine Waters and many others. We have been invited to the White House three times to discuss these issues, though not during your administration. In 1998, our Coalition president, Lawrence Lucas and National Black Farmers Association president, John Boyd met with Vice President Al Gore regarding the Black Farmers' (Pigford v. USDA) lawsuit. In 2008, Mr. Lucas and I spoke at a congressional hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. My emphasis was USDA's rampant discrimination and workplace violence against women. Conditions for women have worsened since that time. Mr. Lucas addressed race discrimination and retaliation against employees and farmers. Numerous incidents of egregious discrimination and retaliation continue to plague USDA. In this letter, I will speak to issues involving Forest Service employees, but please keep in mind that the Forest Service is a microcosm of what is happening in agencies and mission areas throughout USDA. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and Farm Service Agency (FSA) are particularly problematic; along with the Secretary's own offices of Administration and Civil Rights.
In your March 12, 2011, radio address to the nation, you spoke about the importance of women's equality in the workplace and how it affects families and the nation as a whole. I was particularly interested in your comment; "It's something I care deeply about as the father of two daughters who wants to see his girls grow up in a world where there is no limits to what they can achieve."
Mr. President, at this point in time you would not want your daughters to work for USDA.
In addition to the problem of women being prevented from equal job opportunities, female Forest Service employees have been sexually assaulted, slapped, kicked, punched, and thrown to the ground. As unbelievable as it may seem, these male perpetrators are not being terminated, nor are they moved to different locations, causing the women to work in continual fear. For example, a male supervisor sexually harassed a woman. She refused his advances. He sexually assaulted her. For reporting it she lost her job. Another woman was so brutally assaulted by a male coworker on government property during official duty that she was forced to go on disability. Before being forced out of her job, her supervisor tried to intimidate her into dropping the complaint. The attacker was not fired. One African American woman's white male supervisor threatened to shoot her with a gun. Forest Service management protected the man and put her safety at risk. Recent workplace threats have been minimized by the agency.
Sexual harassment of female firefighters and other "male-dominated" jobs is pervasive and endemic. Women are told they are not welcome and harassed until they leave. Last year a Hispanic female firefighter (a war veteran who had deployed to the Middle East) was thrown to the ground and held down by her supervisor while cutting (fire) line. She had endured racial slurs and gender harassment before this incident. The man had a prior disciplinary record but was not fired. Forest Service management has forced her to continue working with the man, knowing she still feels threatened by him. Female firefighters are forced to urinate in canteens, in front of male coworkers, and suffer other humiliations. Recently, a Native American female firefighter was forced to work in a known Hazardous Materials site and became seriously ill. When she complained the Forest Supervisor stated, "Maybe she is too fragile to work in the fire organization." She also endured racial slurs and anti-female comments. Many women and minority employees call me with similar incidents but are afraid to come forward for fear of retaliation.
I ask you, should women who are being discriminated against, sexually harassed, intimidated, assaulted, and humiliated have to suffer in silence because they have children to feed and a mortgage? They do - every day at the USDA.
President Obama, how would you feel if this happened to your daughters? The Hispanic war veteran's parents are outraged that this happened to their daughter and do not understand why she was forced to work with the abuser. They worry about her safety, just as you would if it was Malia or Sasha.
The majority of incidents described in this letter occurred in Region 5, California. Region 5 has more complaints than any region in the nation. While other regions such as Region 3 (New Mexico, Arizona, Texas), Region 4 (Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming), and Region 6 (Oregon, Washington) have similar problems, Region 5 is unique in that it has been under court-ordered consent decree oversight for twenty-six of the past thirty-one years (1980-2006) due to two gender-based class action lawsuits. Since the court oversight ended in 2006, conditions for women have worsened. Additionally, the female employee who was the Class Monitor of the second consent decree has been continuously retaliated against since 2006. Region 5 has sent a chilling message to women employees. They understand that if the USDA and Forest Service will retaliate against the former Class Monitor, the chances of stopping their own harassment and discrimination are grim. From November 2010 to March 2011, the former Class Monitor and I tried to work with Regional Forester Randy Moore and Chief Tom Tidwell to prevent a third class action. We advised these high level officials that we had been receiving numerous calls from women and expressed a desire to work together on ideas and solutions. They rebuffed our efforts, took absolutely no action to deal with the abuses we brought to their attention and retaliated against her further. She had no choice but to file a gender discrimination class action complaint this year. California's Region 5 is beginning its third gender class action with the same issues of the two prior lawsuits – denial of equal pay, denial of equal opportunities, hostile working conditions, and retaliation.
President Obama, these women and minorities are your base. They are the folks who elected you with the belief that the new administration would give them a Secretary of Agriculture who would address civil rights violations, insure equal opportunity, and promote respect and dignity for all employees. Instead, Secretary Vilsack has given them listening sessions, task groups, assessments, and lip service. For those who speak out against the status quo he has insured their demise.
Through numerous meetings and correspondence, The Coalition has provided information on the civil rights violations to Secretary Vilsack and his staff, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan; Chiefs of Staff Karen Ross and Krysta Harden; Assistant Secretary for Administration Pearlie Reed; Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Joe Leonard; and Under Secretary Harris Sherman, among others. The Coalition provided twenty-five action items in an attempt to discuss solutions. The meetings lacked substance, Assistant Secretary Leonard refused to discuss the action items, and there has been little-to-no movement to alleviate the problems. Additionally, when we asked for investigations of civil rights violations, USDA officials instead investigated Lawrence Lucas, Ron Cotton, and myself – a clear attempt to discredit and intimidate us. We will not be intimidated and stepped up our efforts to speak with Secretary Vilsack. He refuses to meet with us.
Perhaps Secretary Vilsack refuses to take tangible action to prevent and eliminate employee abuses because he believes the Jackson Lewis "Civil Rights Assessment" is sufficient. The Secretary spent millions of (tax payer) dollars for the recently released Civil Rights Assessment. It provided him with the same information that was in previous reports. Curiously, the Forest Service was not included in the assessment. In fact, the Jackson Lewis group reported that one high level USDA official interviewed by the Assessment Team described the Forest Service environment as, "military", "male dominated" and having "widespread gender discrimination and harassment." Anecdotal evidence supports this. The dominant culture denies women and minorities equal opportunity to compete for jobs and promotions, and harasses the women who complain about it. Clearly, Secretary Vilsack's "Cultural Transformation" is smoke and mirrors. It has no meaning to those women and people of color throughout the nation dealing with horrendous working conditions. And, I must add that white males are not immune to harassment and workplace bullying. Those who do not "go along to get along" are treated similarly.
It is ironic that at a time when our nation's troops are spread across the globe to insure freedom, equality, and safety from violence, our government is oppressing and terrorizing its own female and minority citizens. How can the USA demand justice in other nations when we do not demand it of ourselves? The "Justice for All" poster that lines the halls of USDA offices silently mocks the employees who are denied justice.
The way women and minorities are treated in the Forest Service (and other USDA agencies) is a disgrace and Secretary Vilsack's refusal to stop this treatment is disgraceful. The abusive working conditions that have caused women and minority employees to lose their careers and jobs, endure financial ruin, lose homes and families, incur health problems, sustain nervous breakdowns, and contemplate suicide are shameful. Secretary Vilsack should be ashamed that his failure to act has destroyed people's lives.
Upon inquiry, USDA officials will assure you that they are taking action to create a "cultural transformation" and an environment of "inclusiveness." They stated as much in the past. Unfortunately, their actions always focus on process and end with little in the way of substantive change. Perhaps they will use their plan to bring back Shirley Sherrod as a civil rights consultant to convince you they are taking steps to address the problems. Do not be fooled. It is not an indicator that harassment, discrimination, and retaliation do not exist or will be eliminated. It is another charade to hide the problems that do exist.
President Obama, the Shirley Sherrod imbroglio was a great embarrassment to your administration. However, the Sherrod debacle pales in comparison to the deplorable conditions, the scandalous incidents, and insidious discrimination I describe here. You, Mr. President are our last and best hope to remove the obstacles preventing The Coalition from meeting with Secretary Vilsack and working with USDA to acknowledge the problems and identify solutions. By this letter we ask you to contact Secretary Vilsack to relay our concerns and set up an initial meeting. Thank you for your consideration of this request. Please feel free to contact me at 530-365-3456 or Lawrence Lucas at 856-910-2399.
Sincerely,
/s/Lesa L. Donnelly
Vice-President, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees
Attachments: April 2009 letter to Secretary Vilsack
July 2010 letter to Secretary Vilsack
February 2011 letter to Secretary Vilsack
March 2011 letter from Senator Grassley to Senator Stabenow
April 2011 letter to R5 Regional Forester Randy Moore
April 2011 letter to Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell
cc: Senate Ag Committee
House Ag Committee
Senator Charles Grassley
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Richard Lugar
Valerie Jarrett, White House
Secretary Tom Vilsack and staff
Lawrence Lucas, President, The Coalition
Ron Cotton, Senior Advisor, The Coalition
Coalition membership
No Fear Coalition
The Coalition for Change (C4C)
National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE)
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
