Two years ago, Devondrick Hartsfield went public with concerns that his boss was a white supremacist.
Hartsfield, who is Black, told CBS News Texas he was working at Van Marcke’s Ace Hardware store in Arlington, Texas, on Juneteenth 2023 when his manager, who is white, showed him something disturbing in the store’s warehouse.
“Before we walked to the door, he told me to look up, and I looked up, and when I looked back at him, he was like, ‘It’s a joke, Juan left his backpack,'” Hartsfield said.
The backpack was hanging from the ceiling. Upon further reflection, Hartsfield, who had been a delivery driver at the store for nearly four months, said the incident sent a chill down his spine.
“And when I looked back up, I saw the noose with the rope and I was like, ‘What the hell?'” Hartsfield said.
“The bag to me looked to me like a Black man who was hung and dismembered,” he said. “I really feel like that was a message.”
Hartsfield said the manager insisted the hanging backpack was intended as a joke. One supervisor later apologized, he said.
But Hartsfield said he couldn’t help but wonder whether it was a coincidence that all this went down on Juneteenth, which celebrates what is widely misbelieved to have been the date of the end of slavery in the United States.
June 19, 1865, marks the day when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that enslaved people in Texas were free, enforcing the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. However, the Emancipation Proclamation only applied to Confederate states. Slavery wasn’t formally and fully abolished across the United States until the 13th Amendment was ratified on Dec. 6, 1865.
“What’s going on today in this world … making [Juneteenth] a national holiday, you’ve heard this on the news, you’ve seen on the news, so there’s no way to not know what Juneteenth was,” he said. “I’m actually petrified to go back to work. This is something that’s never happened to me. It’s very serious.”
Now, almost two years to the day, Hartsfield has filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Ace alleging racial discrimination, according to court documents filed Tuesday.
He was fired, the suit states, because he reported the incident to the company’s human resources department.
Hartsfield included pictures of the noose in his discrimination complaint to upper management. He said the noose was still hanging when he returned to work the next day, according to the suit.
Representatives from human resources assured Hartsfield there would be an investigation, his suit claims. The company promised the same when it was asked to comment on Hartsfield’s allegations in 2023.
“Van Marcke’s Ace Hardware would like to assure you and the entire community that any allegations of racism; or any discrimination is being thoroughly investigated and addressed with the utmost urgency,” the statement read. “We take such incidents seriously and are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for both our employees and customers.”
Hartsfield alleges he was suspended without pay after coming forward with his concerns and was never asked to return. His position was later filled by a non-Black applicant, the suit claims.
“Mr. Hartsfield raised legitimate concerns about a racially hostile work environment,” said his lawyer, Jason Smith. “Instead of addressing them responsibly, Ace Hardware’s management effectively ended his employment.”
Atlanta Black Star News has reached out to Ace Hardware seeking comment.
