Planned Parenthood Fields EEOC Complaints of Being Anti-Male, Racist

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
August 20, 2004

The Los Angeles, California chapter of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood has been the subject of several recent complaints of racism and discrimination by both African-American and Latino employees which were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as well as the California Fair Employment & Housing Administration.

The complaints by the Planned Parenthood employees allege that the group is led by Caucasian women who have created a hostile working environment for men as well as minorities.

In one sworn affidavit, an African-American employee said a female manager with Planned Parenthood looked directly at him and called him a "nigger."

"I am African and was shocked by her cultural insensitivity," the employee wrote in his affidavit and asked not to be identified.

This employee said he "immediately placed [his] concerns in writing and requested disciplinary action with the human resources department at PPLA [Planned Parenthood Los Angeles."

Yet, the employee revealed "nothing ever happened to [his] complaint."

"In fact, I was later put on probation by a female supervisor and then terminated," the employee continued in the affidavit. "There appeared to be a damaging anti-male bias in the organization."

In another statement from a female Planned Parenthood contractor responsible for making sure the group abides by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations, she said an investigation into these allegations found that the person responsible for making the racial slur was "never punished for this action."

A female African-American Planned Parenthood employee said in a sworn affidavit that she "witnessed and experienced" racism while working there and is not surprised by these charges against the group.

"There was a sense that any employee who was not a white female was going to be carefully watched," the employee contended under oath. "It upset me because if they allowed her to call him one, they were probably calling all of the African-American[s] 'nigger' too."

To make matters worse, according to several employees, Planned Parenthood has multiple posters displayed throughout the headquarters characterizing men as "irresponsible."

"One shows an African-American leaving his child abandoned in the middle of an apartment, another shows all male U.S. Supreme Court justices beating down on women's rights," the female employee discovered.

Also, although they are not supposed to be involved in political activities since they are supposedly a nonprofit organization, there are posters on the wall highly critical and mocking of President George W. Bush and religious conservative Rev. Jerry Falwell.

Pro-Family Law Center President Scott Lively said he thinks it is ironic Planned Parenthood is being accused of racism.

"Considering the claim of liberals to hold a higher standard on racism, I'm appalled that a 'liberal organization' based in one of the most 'liberal' cities in the United States would be so cavalier about racial issues as to allow this type of insulting conduct to occur in its offices," Lively said in a statement.

Richard D. Ackerman, lead attorney for two of the claimants, also sees this as an interesting twist for an organization that boasts of its "tolerance and diversity."

"This is a really sad state of affairs," Ackerman said in a statement. "It is unfortunate to find out that PPLA ... is engaging in what appears to be the most primitive form of hate against its own employees."

Ackerman said he believes the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People should get involved in "repairing this awful situation."

"Hopefully we will be able to make our clients whole, and help Planned Parenthood develop policies that ensure that this will never happen again," Ackerman exclaimed.

Interestingly, the ACLU's web site states, "Segregation and discrimination in housing opportunity still exists, and a backlash against affirmative action in employment and education threatens to slam the door of opportunity in the faces of those who are most deserving ... We have come a long way since Jim Crow ruled the South, but deeply entrenched discrimination, subjugation, subordination, and racial violence are still with us and affect not only African-Americans, but Latinos, Asian Americans, American Indians, and Arab Americans as well. The ACLU's historic commitment to racial equality remains a centerpiece of its work in the courts and the legislatures, and in the arenas of public policy and public education."

Also, the mission statement for the NAACP states, "The NAACP insures the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority groups and citizens; achieves equality of rights and eliminates race prejudice among the citizens of the United States; removes all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes; seeks to enact and enforce federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights; informs the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and seeks its elimination; educates persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action in furtherance of these principles."

Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics, Inc., a Texas-based group investigating charges of racism at Planned Parenthood, said "no one should be surprised by" Planned Parenthood being accused of racism.

"After all, the organization was started by an admitted eugenicist whose stated goal was to create what she called 'A Race of Thoroughbreds,'" Crutcher explained. "And don't be so naïve to think that the 'Thoroughbreds' she was talking about included anyone other than White n' Wealthy."

Crutcher compares Planned Parenthood's record on racism to that of the Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan.

"That they regard their employees with the same sleazy attitude that they have always held toward the general minority population is hardly unexpected," Crutcher concluded.

Life Education and Resource Network's Rev. Clenard Childress, Jr. said from the very beginning, Planned Parenthood has had racist origins.

"I am not surprised at these degrading and discriminatory remarks directed at African-American employees at Planned Parenthood," Childress said in a statement. "This demeanor is indicative of its founder Margaret Sanger, whose comments regarding minorities often parallel these racist and bigoted slurs."