Special News Series: Rising Up For Justice! – Workers at major chains are taking legal action in fight over employees’ right to wear BLM masks

Introduction To This Series:

This post is one installment in an ongoing news series: a “living history” of the current national and international uprising for justice.

Today’s movement descends directly from the many earlier civil rights struggles against repeated injustices and race-based violence, including the killing of unarmed Black people. The posts in this series serve as a timeline of the uprising that began on May 26, 2020, the day after a Minneapolis police officer killed an unarmed Black man, George Floyd, by kneeling on his neck. The viral video of Floyd’s torturous suffocation brought unprecedented national awareness to the ongoing demand to truly make Black Lives Matter in this country.

The posts in this series focus on stories of the particular killings that have spurred the current uprising and on the protests taking place around the USA and across the globe. Sadly, thousands of people have lost their lives to systemic racial, gender, sexuality, judicial, and economic injustice. The few whose names are listed here represent the countless others lost before and since. Likewise, we can report but a few of the countless demonstrations for justice now taking place in our major cities, small towns, and suburbs.

Workers at chains including Whole Foods and Whataburger are taking legal action in fight over employees’ right to wear Black Lives Matter masks

By Kate Taylor, Business Insider

September 30, 2020

• Workers at Whataburger, Whole Foods, and Kroger-owned grocery stores QFC and Ralphs have filed complaints against employers over alleged bans on Black Lives Matter masks and buttons. 
• Companies say that any masks or buttons with messages on them violate corporate dress codes. 
• Whole Foods and Whataburger employees say that they have been singled out for wearing Black Lives Matter gear, arguing that such treatment is grounds for racial-discrimination lawsuits. 
• “It is a simple, simple statement: Black lives matter, that’s it. They matter,” said Savannah Kinzer, a Whole Foods employee who was sent home for wearing a BLM mask. 
• Attorney Wendy Greene said that while companies typically have latitude to determine dress codes, enforcing bans on Black Lives Matter gear can make corporate statements against racism look “insincere and performative.” 

When 19-year-old Ma’Kiya Congious wore a Black Lives Matter mask to work at a Fort Worth, Texas Whataburger,  she was not trying to be political. 

“It’s just a statement that says ‘Black Lives Matter’ — because we do matter,” Congious said during a press conference last week.

However, when a white customer threatened to call Whataburger’s corporate, Congious says higher-ups told her she should no longer wear her Black Lives Matter mask to work. 

“You’re entitled to your personal opinions, that’s fine,” Congious’ manager said in a recording obtained by the Fort-Worth Star Telegram. “But at Whataburger we don’t want to portray them because some people may be offended. This is a big business … Whataburger doesn’t want to get into anything political because we’re just hamburgers and fries.”

Congious then proceeded to ask about giving her two weeks notice, though she says she did not indicate she was quitting at that time. A manager responded by telling Congious that she did not need to return to her job ever again. When Congious pressed management for further information on Whataburger’s mask policy and the comment about her resignation, the Star-Telegram reports, management called the police. 

Last week, Congious filed a complaint with Texas officials against Whataburger, saying she was forced out of her job due to racial discrimination. Congious isn’t alone in her decision to wear Black Live Matter gear at work, or in saying she faced negative consequences for her actions.

Companies including PetSmart, Wawa, and Taco Bell have faced backlash after workers said they were fired after wearing Black Lives Matter masks on the job. Kroger and Whole Foods employees have taken legal action against their employers, arguing the enforcement of bans on BLM gear violated their rights. 

Read the full article here.

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