DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997             TAG: 9703260514

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA 

        STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   99 lines

NAACP PROBE OF RACIAL BIAS AT COAST GUARD BASE EXPANDS

The district NAACP has broadened its probe of alleged racial discrimination at the Coast Guard base in Elizabeth City.

Five former and current employees at the military installation have filed complaints with a Coast Guard civil rights division and the Pasquotank County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

One of those complaints has been processed by a Department of Transportation civil rights investigator, and processing of the other two is pending.

The remaining two complaints have not had hearings scheduled by the Coast Guard.

Each complaint involves the base's Support Center and Aircraft Repair & Supply Center - the two commands with the largest number of civilian employees.

``We have not drawn any conclusions yet, but we feel that there is a pattern here, and that the public needs to be made aware,'' said Buford Dunlap, president of the Currituck County NAACP chapter and a member of the District 12 NAACP investigative committee.

Raymond Rivers Jr., president of the Pasquotank chapter, also said incidents of racial discrimination appear to be emerging from the ongoing investigation.

``We have found discrepancies that boil down to African Americans who have their time in, the experience and the qualifications when positions become available, but are overlooked'' in favor of white males, Rivers said.

Following Tuesday's news conference, the Coast Guard Aircraft and Supply Center issued a statement that said policy prohibited anyone from publicly commenting on the cases.

All discrimination complaints are referred to a local Equal Employment Opportunity counselor or, if the case warrants, an outside EEO officer.

If a case cannot be resolved locally, it is forwarded to the Department Office of Civil Rights near Atlanta for investigation.

``This is a proven process to ensure that any employee who feels they have been discriminated against has a voice to have their claim heard and resolved,'' the news release stated.

``All EEO cases at the Coast Guard Aircraft Repair and Supply Center are handled in this way. We cannot discuss cases which are currently in the administrative process,'' it continued.

Lillia Sessoms is an engine manager at the AR&SC and a local EEO counselor. She also is among those to file formal complaints.

``I'm here to tell you there is discrimination. I see it every day,'' Sessoms, an 18-year Coast Guard employee, said Tuesday.

Sessoms said she has been ``intimidated and humiliated'' since filing complaints this month, but she vowed to press on despite possible repercussions.

``It's time that we stop just talking about it. I'm tired of it, and I'm fighting now,'' she said.

Hilda Jordan is a former automation clerk at the Support Center's medical center who claims race played a part in her termination.

Jordan was a work-study student while in college and said she was promised full-time employment and a pay increase upon graduation in May 1995.

``I was constantly called names. I was told I had a non-thinking job. They constantly cut me down,'' Jordan said of treatment by other employees.

In an earlier interview, Capt. John Miner of the Support Center declined to comment on Jordan's case.

Miner did explain the work-study program was to have ended when Jordan received her college degree. She stayed on for more than a year after earning her degree.

Of the five people to file complaints, the review of only one has been completed by a Department of Transportation Civil Rights investigator in Atlanta.

That report has not been made public.

The case involves former Petty Officer Second Class William Lucas Jr. of Virginia Beach, who claims he was unfairly discharged from the Coast Guard in January. He filed his complaint with the NAACP last June.

Lucas was not at Tuesday's gathering at Mount Lebanon A.M.E. Zion Church in Elizabeth City.

Rivers did not readily have details of Lucas's case but said Lucas, who had been an active duty yeoman, believes he was ``railroaded'' into leaving the Support Center.

``To enhance getting him out of the service, they just rushed the process on,'' Rivers said.

Others to come forward Tuesday include Lucille McEachin and Mazeline Turner, who both work at the Aircraft Repair and Supply Center.

Turner, who has 17 years in the Coast Guard, was passed over for a superivsory position that she said she'd already performed when her boss was ill or on vacation. When he left, the job went to a white male, Rivers said.

Turner was not at Tuesday's news conference.

McEachin is a contract specialist in the procurement branch of the supply center and alleges age and race discrimination.

``I'm always being picked over when applying for an upgrade,'' she said Tuesday.

Others who attended Tuesday's meeting said they also were considering formal action against the Coast Guard for race, age or gender discrimination.

``There would be more people here today, but they are afraid for their jobs,'' said Carolyn Hagley, a computer operator at the AR&SC.

Fellow computer operator Roxanne Brooks said she filed a discrimination lawsuit after she first came to the base as a civilian employee 12 years ago.

Brooks said race relations have worsened since then.

``Now it's even in-your-face. They don't even try to hide it now,'' she said.

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