From: LawrLCL@aol.com
Date: Thu, 15 May 2014 09:16:54 -0400
Subject: leadership justifies racism,sexism & other civil & human rights violations....d
14 may 2014good afternoon.i noticed today you have to some degree broken your silence. however, the below paper trail points out that major widespread systemic & egregious issues that we have brought to your attention are not being acted upon.we know usda feels it is doing a great job with it civil rights program. however again, we and many others (Black farmers & many usda employees, including those your own office of civil rights) see otherwise.your own joe leonard, asst. secretary for civil rights, has managed his office so poorly that he has an abundant amount of cases filed against him and his immediate staff. his office is a poor example of what civil rights should be. his office has more cases filed against them than some of the much larger agencies.....this is shameful at best.your long silence over the past weeks tells us that we are stuck in the mud and little progress is to be had or expected......after many, many months of talks. to convince us otherwise, let us see meaningful results and not just plans to plan. our below emails address some specific issues and concerns (racism,sexism, rape , other forms of assaults, hostile work environment, reprisal, intimidation & more) are worthy of positive & speedy action. we clearly see what usda fails and prefer to address....but not those things we see that need immediate meaningful, proactive & agressively action/attention.are we really going nowhere in this process after all?respectfully,lawrence lucas, 20 year presidentusda coalition of minority employeesusda coalition an advocacy group from the old school
Subj: open email: usda civil right has become a one sided discussion30 april 2014Redacted let me be clear.first, the problem with my not getting on the conference call/connecting, after calling in many times last week was the fault of usda.secondly, our next meeting must deal with issues of our concern....as partly addressed in the below email that you are ignoring. the issue of the use of the word "nigger" must be our starting point. the use of that word gets to the "plantation culture" that we have been trying to address with you for months and little progress has been made. we can not and will not let what is happening with the la clippers happen at usda any longer.....the use of the word "nigger" and much, much more. we are not in a "post racial" period in our history, as many want to believe.again, it seems as though usda feels it does not have a civil rights problem and that is why your focus is a marathon away from ours.the suggestion by carl ruiz in his email this morning is for us to wait another day, another week, or another month to meet, is an unacceptable conclusion. serious matters require serious and timely response and resolution. that is not happening as we see it.let us be serious or we must go back to secretary vilsack directly for action.respectfully,lawrence lucas, presidentusda coalition of minority employees
today...
Mr. Lucas, the purpose of last week's conference call was to move things forward. It is unfortunate that it didn't happen because of dial in problems on your end. Redacted email to you a moment ago is intended to get us back together so we can discuss the issues you raise and to share with you the progress that is being made at USDA. Recently, ASCR and OGC staff conveyed to you that the issues you reference are in fact being investigated. I will call you this week just in case there is additional information you would like to share. -Oscar
Subject: usda civil right has become a one sided discussion
30 April 2014
good morning Redacted.
i spent my early morning reading many of the emails we have generated this year and have noticed many have gotten no response from you. they range from the subjects of meeting with secretary vilsack, secretary vilsack have a dialogue on race, exploring a case resolution program like crat/crit, what you meant by saying what old civil rights leader roles differ in today's world, why the forest service chief tom tidwell is missing in action while a fs employee face being poisoned and another referred to as "nigger", issues of accountability ignored altogether....to name only a few examples. ignoring these types of issues get basketball owners in big trouble....the la clippers is what i am referencing......a plantation culture in basketball front offices and locker rooms.
it seems we are only addressing issues that only usda prefer discussing....that is not a partnership.
where do we go from here? are we stuck in the mud as far as making progress regarding usda civil rights?
it seems that usda truly believes they do not have a civil rights problem. that is far from being the truth.....not for Black farmers and many suffering usda employees.
the ball is in usda's court to act on.
respectfully,
lawrence lucas, president
usda coalition of minority employees
Subject: usda civil right has become a one sided discussion
30 April 2014
good morning oscar.
i spent my early morning reading many of the emails we have generated this year and have noticed many have gotten no response from you. they range from the subjects of meeting with secretary vilsack, secretary vilsack have a dialogue on race, exploring a case resolution program like crat/crit, what you meant by saying what old civil rights leader roles differ in today's world, why the forest service chief tom tidwell is missing in action while a fs employee face being poisoned and another referred to as "nigger", issues of accountability ignored altogether....to name only a few examples. ignoring these types of issues get basketball owners in big trouble....the la clippers is what i am referencing......a plantation culture in basketball front offices and locker rooms.
it seems we are only addressing issues that only usda prefer discussing....that is not a partnership.
where do we go from here? are we stuck in the mud as far as making progress regarding usda civil rights?
it seems that usda truly believes they do not have a civil rights problem. that is far from being the truth.....not for Black farmers and many suffering usda employees.
the ball is in usda's court to act on.
respectfully,
lawrence lucas, president
usda coalition of minority employees
In a message dated 4/30/2014 10:41:31 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,