Marcus Bradley had always done his job to a high standard. Yet his employer let him down by upholding a complaint about the color of his skin.
Everyone knows that America still has a major racism problem. You’d have to be incredibly ignorant to not realize that.
But one of the few positives to come out of recent events is that more American companies and organizations than ever before are making statements denouncing racism.
But this story shows that American businesses still have a long way to go when it comes to treating all of their employees equally.
Marcus Bradley had been working as a delivery driver for the hardware chain Lowe’s in Danville, Virginia happily for more than a decade. But one day, a customer complained about him, and Lowe’s response made him reassess his employer.
Most of the Lowe’s customers that Bradley drove to had had great experiences, with Bradley dropping off their purchases with a smile.
However, one day, he dropped off a truckload of items and had to return to the store to bring the rest of the order over. But he would not be allowed to complete his job.
On the drive to pick up the rest of the order, Bradley received a call from his boss. The boss told him that he couldn’t return to the home.
Confused, Bradley asked why. He was shocked by the response.
“I asked him why I couldn’t do it. And he says, ‘Because you’re black, and they don’t want you at the house.'” – Marcus Bradley.
Bradley’s colleague, Alex Brooke, was in the delivery truck when Bradley heard this news. Brooke was also appalled.
What angered him more than the customer complaint was the fact that the Lowe’s manager had followed up on and enforced a racist request.
“To me, you know, it just ain’t right for a business that we work in to go on with the woman’s wishes.” – Alex Brooke.
Back at the store, Bradley and Brooke complained to their manager. But they wouldn’t listen to them. Instead, the manager proceeded to replace Bradley with a white delivery driver.
Brooke would not tolerate this. He put his foot down and refused to go back to the home without Bradley. So the manager sent two different delivery drivers out and reprimanded Brooke.
Bradley was incredibly upset about the way he was treated. He had previously assumed that his employer would stick up for him in the face of racism. But now he knew better.
A local news team then investigated the incident. They interviewed the woman who had complained about Bradley. She expressed no regret for discriminating against him.
The news team also said that “someone is now out of a job” over the way the outlet responded to the racist request. However, that statement is vague.
Clearly, Lowe’s needs to make it clear to its managers and other employees that they cannot enable racism.
Yes, it’s sad that those racist requests could occur in the first place. But what would have made the situation better is if Lowe’s had made it clear to the manager that they could not tolerate racism. Hopefully, the company will learn from this shameful sequence of events.
Watch more about this crazy situation in the video below.
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