
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103140406
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WHITE WORKERS GOT PROMOTIONS, BETTER TREATMENT

I HAD A real experience in racism from a big company that used to be in Roanoke. They went by hearsay and did not try to find out the facts. Anything was true as long as it was on the black.

I have leg problems. They would not go by some of my doctor's orders. Some doctors are racists and went along with the company. I called the Academy of Medicine and they would not believe a black person.

All the supervisors or anyone over you were mostly white. If you went up the ladder, all was white.

The white employees could stay off sick a long time. They would not pay the whites for a while while they were off. But they had a job when they got back. If black employees stayed off sick, they were fired.

We had a black man with cancer of the throat. He nearly died in the hospital but made it through with the help of God. He put in for his disability. They made him come back to work and he died. But two white women got disability and did not have any trouble.

Another black woman was so sick she could not stand on her feet. They let her go with part disability. She died.

How can you work on the same line with all white employees doing the same work? All of the whites got raises and the black women did not. I did not get a raise in eight years. I had to get the Labor Board to come in and save my job. DELLA MILLNER ROANOKE

by CNB