Reverse Discrimination Suit against DeKalb County, Georgia

A jury has awarded more than $180,000 in damages in a reverse discrimination case against Dekalb County in Georgia.  The county’s first black chief executive, Vernon Jones, was accused of attempting to replace whites blacks. Three white former managers in the county’s Parks and Recreation Department claimed they lost their jobs to be replaced by blacks. A fourth former employee, who is black, claimed he suffered from retaliation when he refused to “dig up dirt” on white colleagues. In 2001, when Jones took office, the county had 33 black and 61 white top managers. Five years later there were 60 blacks and 57 white managers, according to trial testimony.