Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis supervisor has been fired after making racist comments on an audio recording provided by the company's employee. As it turns out, the owner of the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis had no idea that the discrimination has been going on within the warehouse.
According to WREG, employees Antonio Harris and Marrio Mangrum have reported their supervisor at Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis, now fired, for telling them that the drinking fountain and the microwave inside the warehouse were "for whites only." It was in one recording when Harris asked why he couldn't use the microwave, and he was given the answer, "Because you are not white."
In another recording, the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis supervisor said a sign that reads "White People Only" should be placed on the drinking fountain. When Harris asked what would happen if he drank the water, the supervisor replied, "That's when we hang you," reports WREG.
The Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis former supervisor even reportedly threatened that he would hang one of them if that person even just attempted to drink from the company fountain.
The Huffington Post reports that Harris was able to capture the deliberate Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis racist banter on his cellphone recorder. As such, he was able to have the clip distributed to WREG in order to become public. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "recording audio without consent is legal in Tennessee," therefore there were no laws violated with what Harris did.
As such, Harris and Mangrum have filed a discrimination complaint against the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis for the alleged racist remarks from its supervisor. The complaint also said that the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis supervisor also told Harris and Mangrum have to "think like a white man" and even called them "monkeys."
Company owner E.W. Atkinson told WREG that the cotton business which has been in his family for 60 is being managed by Federal Compress. Atkinson said, "I just wasn't around. I'm sorry I didn't know sooner." He added that he was shocked that the recordings are now popping up everywhere on the internet.
Meanwhile, Federal Compress told ABC News that it had "zero tolerance" for discrimination. A representative for the company also said the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis supervisor is no longer working for the company.
Atkinson Cotton Warehouse Memphis owner E.W. Atkinson said that 90 percent of their employees are African American and as such, he would have stopped racist behavior had he been aware of such happenings. He told CNN, "It's crazy that anybody would think to talk like that nowadays. It makes no sense whatsoever. You can't even comprehend it."
To watch a video of the report of the Atkinson Cotton Warehouse audio recording, see below.
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