White Supremacy and Oregon: A Workplace Case Study
Screenshot of Michael Fesser: KGW News (YouTube)
Imagine being a person of culture and building up the courage to step forward and file a complaint at work because some of your fellow employees have been actively and openly racist toward you. Now imagine your boss, a white cis male, deciding that the best response to addressing your complaint is calling up his buddy, a white cis male who is also a local police chief. Not to ask his buddy how he should handle this situation, mind you, but to call in a favor in putting together a fraudulent case against you to portray you as stealing from the company to terminate your employment. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?
Welcome to Crazy Town.
West Linn, Oregon, to be exact.
From NBC News:
A black man from Oregon sued the city of West Linn, alleging that police officers unlawfully surveilled him at work and then falsely arrested him in retaliation for having raised complaints with his employer about racial discrimination.
Michael Fesser of Portland claimed in the suit, an amended version of which was filed last month in U.S. District Court in Portland, that the incident left him suffering from emotional distress and resulted in economic damages. He sued the city and several members of the West Linn Police Department for false arrest, malicious prosecution, defamation, and invasion of privacy.
West Linn police began investigating Fesser in February 2017 after Fesser raised concerns to his boss, Eric Benson, owner of A&B Towing, that he was racially discriminated against at work.
According to separate court documents, Fesser said the discrimination included coworkers' calling him racial slurs. After he raised his concerns, Benson contacted West Linn Police Chief Terry Timeus, his friend, and persuaded to look into allegations that Fesser had stolen from the company, according to the lawsuit.
The suit said the theft allegations were false and unsubstantiated.
But with the approval of West Linn police Lt. Mike Stradley, Detectives Tony Reeves and Mike Boyd used audio and video equipment to watch Fesser while he was at work, according to the suit. The surveillance was "conducted without a warrant or probable cause" and did not result in any evidence that Fesser was stealing from his employer, the lawsuit stated.
Pretty horrible, right? Can't get more terrible than that, you say?
Again, NBC News:
Regardless, West Linn officers, with the help of Portland police officers, arrested Fesser days later based on Reeves' and Stradley's "false representations" to Portland police that they had probable cause for an arrest.
"Sgt. Reeves and Sgt. Boyd unlawfully arrested, detained and interrogated Mr. Fesser in Portland, outside their jurisdiction, without probable cause," the suit said, adding that the two officers took Fesser's personal belongings, including papers expressing his concerns about racial discrimination at work.
Fesser spent about eight hours at the police station before he was released on his recognizance. He was later contacted by West Linn police to come to the station to retrieve some of his belongings. While he was there, officers informed Fesser that he had been fired from his job, according to the lawsuit.
"The West Linn Defendants' surveillance, arrest, incarceration, and interrogation of Mr. Fesser without a warrant or probable cause and their pursuit of baseless criminal charges against Mr. Fesser were racially motivated, retaliatory, extra-jurisdictional and egregious abuse of the power with which the police are entrusted," the suit said.
According to the lawsuit, criminal charges in the arrest weren't filed until after Fesser sued his employer over his termination and for discrimination. The charges were later dismissed.
So let's get all of our facts lined up, all nice and tidy. Let's see:
Michael Fesser reported being on the receiving end of overt racism at work to his boss, Eric Benson, as one often does.
Eric Benson decided it was better to talk a member of law enforcement into helping him falsify a criminal case against Michael. Because, you know, actually addressing the racism Michael faced and addressing the racist employees that were aiming their hate at him would've meant that Eric had to admit that he wasn't racist, which he is.
Michael Fesser was illegally surveilled, arrested via a joint effort by Portland and West Linn Police, detained, interrogated, and eventually left unemployed - all based on no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing of any kind on Michael's behalf.
Now, if you're a white person, I want you to take a minute and sit with everything you just read. Then I want you to think about one thing: do you think you will ever face anything like this in your personal or professional life?
Don't worry. I'll wait.
If you sat with everything you just read and you came up with any answer other than "no"? Then you're lying to yourself.
And you're part of the problem.
Now look, I fully understand that for women and feminine-identifying folx, there is a certain level of discrimination they will always face in the workplace. I have been a human resources professional for seven years, and I have conducted investigations into reports of discrimination, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism since the second week of my career. I have taken steps and actions to terminate sexist, homophobic, and transphobic employees who have harmed others, even in situations where I had to persuade management to take decisive action and make what they viewed as "unpopular" or "unnecessary" decisions. I will never gaslight anyone who comes to me to report abusive and oppressive actions and language aimed at them, white employees included. Whether you are a white man, woman, queer-identifying person, living with a disability, or any myriad of intersecting identities that align with your whiteness, I will believe you unless a thorough investigation pushes me to question that belief. But, if you are white, you must understand one thing:
You are white.
You getting support in the workplace, from management and even human resources, is a given because you are white. Any hurdles or barriers that you may face due to your intersecting identities? Your whiteness ensures you will always have the option to report inequity levied toward yourself or others and not only be heard but believed in most cases. It is practically assured, mainly because it is all dependent on your societal status. Black folx?
We don't have that assurance.
White people: you know the fear and anxiety that many of you feel when you find yourself needing to report workplace discrimination, harassment, and workplace bullying? Multiply that feeling by 100. Then add 10. Carry the one. Then realize that you will likely never feel even remotely this way reporting most things in your workplace to management or Human Resources unless you are a white woman or white and femme-identifying. And even then, even if you are a white woman or white and femme-identifying? Your experience will still be different. Your whiteness ensures that you will never fully understand the scrutiny persons of culture, Indigenous women, two-spirit folx, Black women, Black femmes, Brown women, and Brown femmes face within white institutions. And you will never be able to grasp the anger, anxiety, and demoralization persons of culture face while working in white institutions and grappling with whether or not white supremacy is worth reporting. You will never fully understand the complexity and stress of the decision to inform your manager or human resources that your coworkers are doing and saying things to you and people like you based on your skin tone or your intersectionality. And you would never think that doing so would leave you framed for a crime, arrested for said crime, and unemployed.
Crazy town.
West Linn, Oregon.
Hell, Oregon in general.
White Oregonians, I've got a few questions for y'all. I feel like I ask y'all these questions often, probably as often as your barista asks you how many shots you want in your random-ass triple foam latte you pick up from the rustic hole-in-the-wall coffee shop next to your barre class. However, I'm still looking for a straight answer, so humor me.
How many accounts of white supremacy have you encountered and seen dominate the local headlines, especially those involving local law enforcement, and found yourself shocked and appalled?
Why are you shocked and appalled?
Did your shock drive you to speak up, to take action, to go to your local legislators and city council meetings, and make your voice heard concerning these things happening to persons of culture in your community?
If your shock didn't drive you to take some kind of action outside of sharing articles on your social media channels expressing your outrage: why? Why weren't you inspired to act?
You see, white Oregonians, questions 3 and 4 are the questions I never seem to get a raw and honest answer from you about. They are the ones that continue to perplex me. Oregon is a state where most of the citizenry, whether they identify as conservative, liberal, or otherwise, claim to care about the life, safety, and livelihood of all Oregonians. Portlanders are notorious for sharing this mindset and these viewpoints, often letting me know how much "all lives matter" to them and shouting out slogans and mantras of that ilk. (Note: y'all do this to me way too much. Are y'all doing this to all the persons of culture you know or meet that you want to impress or want to validate you? If so, please stop.) Thing is, I know what the real honest uncomfortable answers to questions 3 and 4 are. Y'all know too. The answers to questions 3 and 4 aren't, "The problem is so daunting; I just don't know where to start." It isn't, "I donate funds to [insert BIPOC nonprofit here], so I know my money is going toward working on these causes. ". It's not you reading a book or watching a documentary or listening to a podcast to show how "woke" you are and how you aren't a part of the problem.
It's fear.
Fear of your fellow white people turning on you for taking a stance against police corruption and brutality. Fear of having to face how you have allowed your unchecked white privilege to impact communities of culture. Fear of acknowledging that you don't honestly, genuinely, empathically care about the lives and systemic oppression of Black and Brown Oregonians in a real tangible way beyond a bumper sticker or a Black Lives Matter sign in your yard. Fear of understanding that you only feel compelled to stand up in support and solidarity with persons of culture if other white folx and persons of culture pat you on the back for a job well done.
It's fear.
And it's the most substantial part of why you're a part of the problem.
Your fear perpetuates the pain and the generational trauma that persons of culture grapple with every day. White supremacy is structured in such a way that white people are conditioned through societal pressure and deeply embedded norms not to take a real physical stand in defense of non-white citizens. This fear in and of itself is generational trauma for white folx, as your forefather's creation of these structures and your conscious and unconscious upholding of, and grappling with; these structures are connected. They are united in generating the discomfort you feel (or don 't feel) when you witness white supremacy in action. They are connected to the levels of distress you likely do not register taking place in your body and your brain when you feel driven to step up and speak up when you witness white supremacy in action. And they are connected to the quick-to-dissipate guilt you feel when you decide not stepping up and speaking up when you see white supremacy in motion is your safest bet to not being ostracized from and bullied by the white community. This notion is prevalent in most cities across the United States because, well, whiteness tends to find a multitude of ways to make its discomfort with acknowledging white supremacy something that persons of culture should be handling, dealing with, "getting over it". But white Oregonians? Y'all add an extra layer to the way your white supremacy plays out. That layer?
"Allyship".
And yes, allyship, in bold, with substantial quotations.
See, white Oregonians, y'all perpetuate all of the steps mentioned above of white supremacy. I mean, you're a conscious and unconscious part of a centuries-old system built for you, by you. Of course, you're going to perpetuate white supremacy in some manner. But the extra layer of your contributions to the oppression of persons of culture is the fact that you need persons of culture to view you as their "ally". Oregon is full of white folx who are always working hard to let BIPOC folx know that they are our "allies" that they understand our struggles. Especially non-rural areas of Oregon like Portland, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Gresham, and Beaverton. Y'all spend so much time trying to convince BIPOCs that you're good people. Y'all spend so much time informing BIPOC folx that you've read Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility from cover to cover, that you've heard Ta-Nehisi Coates speak on multiple occasions, that it's oppressive. What many of you view as "allyship" fosters on the brink of being narcissistic. And y'all bring this "allyship" into your already predominantly white, white supremacy adjacent workplaces. And you find the persons of culture in your workplace. And you go out of your way to make us feel welcome, often to consciously or unconsciously groom us, to give yourself a window of opportunity to fulfill your need for our confirmation of your "allyship." And when we don't acknowledge your "allyship?"
You show us on multiple fronts that we've made a colossal mistake.
You double down on your efforts to prove to us how "good" you are because you believe if you can convince us, wear us down, that we'll give you the kudos you're seeking. And when that doesn't work? You grow indignant, perturbed with us for not validating the "good" person you believe you are. You escalate your insistence that we pat you on the back to the point where you elevate your tone of voice while exhibiting body language and all of the other hallmarks of violent communication. You often yell at us in front of your white colleagues and other BIPOC folx. It is a tactic that white folx use to build solidarity with white bystanders, forcing other persons of culture in the vicinity to stand in solidarity with the recipient of the abuse, fall in line, or to prioritize their safety by acting as if the violation isn't happening. You call us racists. You accuse us of being reverse racist (which is legitimately not a thing). You shed tears, with the unconscious goal of seeking sympathy and protection from those you are oppressing and your white peers. And while you're doing all of that to Black folx, Brown folx, persons of culture?
You are consciously and unconsciously failing to see how entrenched in your white supremacy you are and how that entrenchment is rooted in viewing Black and Brown people as the problem.
Truth is in those moments, white Oregonians, you are the problem, not us. And not just the white people doling out the abuses as a representation of their righteousness; white bystanders are a sizable part of the problem as well. By allowing the fear I spoke of earlier to compel you to sit there, in the vicinity, watching an "ally" attack a person of culture in your workplace, you are contributing to the continued oppression of persons of culture. Coming up to us after the fact, apologizing to us for what happened, and assuring us that you wanted to say something/should have said something doesn't make it better. It doesn't make you an ally. It just makes you another white person that is knee-deep in the generational trauma of white supremacy.
So take a moment, to be honest with yourself, White Oregonians. Legitimately honest, not "I want to feel good about myself, so I'm going to answer these questions the 'right way' even though I know I would more than likely never actually feel comfortable doing these things" honest. If you were one of Michael Fesser's coworkers, and you saw some of your fellow white coworkers calling Michael Fesser racial slurs on multiple occasions, would you report this behavior to your manager or human resources? Would you stand up and say something to your white coworkers as it happens? Would you try and say something to them later, when Michael wasn't around? Would you not say anything as it's happening but try to find a quiet moment when it's only you and Michael to apologize for all white people or something similarly symbolic of your self-perceived values? If you did the latter, would it make you feel like you were the opposite of those white people who called Michael those racial slurs? Think about all of that. Think about how many of those questions you answered with "no" or some form of an excuse as to why you wouldn't take action. Then ask yourself one last question.
Do you still view yourself as an "ally?" And if so, where do you work?
I want to make sure I don’t apply for a job there.