A black police officer claims he was denied promotions because of his association with whites in the Milwaukee Police Department.
Eric J. Moore filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission accusing police chief Arthur L. Jones and others of discrimination, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Moore has been a lieutenant of detectives since 1998 and a Milwaukee police officer for 23 years, the paper said. Jones and the others mentioned in the complaint, which was filed last week, also are black.
Moore stated: “I have been repeatedly denied a promotion to captain despite my being qualified and having more tenure than the selectees. Upper management has made known their biases against me because of [my black] race and association with non-blacks.”
He says his evidence, collected over more than seven years, are statements made directly to him and others reported by colleagues.
“There just came a time when I said to myself, ‘I’ve had enough; I’m not going to lay down and take this anymore,'” Moore told the Milwaukee daily. “You have to stand up to this type of adversity or nothing will change.”
According to the complaint, Jones said he thinks Moore is a “shuffling okey-dokey for the white man type of brother.”
The paper said Jones did not respond to calls seeking comment, and when a reporter approached his home, the police chief threatened to have him arrested.
Jones, whose term as chief ends next week, is a candidate for Milwaukee mayor.
Moore accuses a former supervisor, deputy chief Leslie Barber, of comparing him and his former partner to characters from the old “Amos ‘n’ Andy” radio and TV show of the 1920s through ’50s, the Journal Sentinel said.
The complaint alleges Barber said Moore would never be promoted to captain because he “runs around here talking to those damn white people.”
Barber told the Milwaukee paper he was unaware of Moore’s complaint and had no comment, but called him a “blatant liar.”
The complaint also accuses another former supervisor, Monica Ray, of saying, “Don’t be a court jester like Eric Moore and be entertainment for these white folks. Eric be running around here shucking and jiving, skinning and grinning in these white folks’ faces and he should realize … they really don’t like his a–.”
