Connect with us

San Francisco, CA

SF University Staffer Says His Confederate-Loving Boss Called Him a ‘Slave’

Published

on

SF University Staffer Says His Confederate-Loving Boss Called Him a ‘Slave’


A former Black employee at San Francisco State University has filed a discrimination lawsuit, alleging shocking instances of racism from his white supervisor, including being called a “runaway slave.”

In a complaint filed Tuesday in California Superior Court, DeMauriae Vaughn sued California State University, the wider academic system of which San Francisco State University belongs, as well as his former supervisor Karen Rubin, and a hefty list of Jane and John Does who Vaughn says failed to protect him from racial harassment.

Vaughn wants relief for punitive damages due to the “continuous and ongoing pattern of behavior,” the lawsuit says.

Vaughn, who joined the university’s Advising Resource Center in 2001, began working under Rubin in 2019. According to the lawsuit, the racism at work was so intense that Vaughn, a former student, “and other non-white SFSU employees…spent their working days in fear.”

Advertisement

Rubin, the ARC’s director, allegedly admitted to keeping a portrait of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee in her office to serve as a “near-daily reminder to SFSU’s black employees of Ms. Rubin’s view of their place in society,” the lawsuit states.

In August, 2019, Rubin referred to Vaughn as a “runaway slave” to colleagues and claimed she would have to find a way to wrangle him in a similar fashion to how slave catchers would try to catch enslaved people who had escaped from their enslavers, according to the lawsuit.

The following month, the suit says, Rubin directed her staff to read a passage from a book about a white man teaching Black children in Harlem about respect. When staff members told Rubin that the content was racist, she ignored them, according to the lawsuit.

A probe was launched into the ARC after Vaughn submitted a harassment complaint to the university’s equity and compliance office. After a yearlong investigation that included interviews with 19 witnesses, an independent firm that conducted the probe concluded that “Rubin engaged in unwelcome conduct based on Vaughn’s race, and that the conduct violated [SFSU]’s prohibition on harassment.”

A copy of the investigation was provided to The Daily Beast by Vaughn’s attorney, Arash Sadat. Rubin made racist Asian stereotypes and admonished an Iranian student wishing to take a belly dancing class, according to the report.

Advertisement

Despite the investigation, the lawsuit claims Rubin continued to work at San Francisco State University for several more months “until she left on her own accord.”

Meanwhile, Vaughn says, the alleged harassment and hostility was so bad that he began suffering panic attacks so intense that his doctor advised him to take medical leave.

Sadat declined to provide a comment to The Daily Beast Tuesday on behalf of his client, saying they would not be speaking to the media for the time being.

According to Rubin’s professional website, she started a career in education after teaching “writing-intensive history courses” and courses in “Race & Ethnicity.”

“Student success happens not only by teaching students how to navigate — not just college, but challenges in their lives — but also by ensuring students have consistent and reliable access to a team of support,” Rubin says on the website.

Advertisement

Neither Rubin nor California State University immediately returned The Daily Beast’s requests for comment Tuesday.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Giants Predicted to Spend This Offseason in Free Agency

Published

on

San Francisco Giants Predicted to Spend This Offseason in Free Agency


The San Francisco Giants are heading into free agency and the offseason as a very interesting team to watch. 

It was another disappointing season for the Giants in 2024, as they finished under .500 once again and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. 

The struggles in San Francisco resulted in a change in the front office, as Buster Posey took over as the President of Baseball Operations. 

With the decision to add Posey to the front office, the hope is that he will be able to lure in some of the top caliber free agents that they have been missing out on in recent years. 

Advertisement

The Giants haven’t been shy about spending money, but that money hasn’t always went to the right places. 

Recently, Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report ranked teams in different tiers based on what they will spend this offseason. For San Francisco, he placed them in the tier that will be spending this winter. 

“Perhaps the most interesting team on this list is the Giants, with former NL MVP Buster Posey now serving as their president of baseball operations. He’s talked about wanting to figure the shortstop position out, which is why we’ve projected the Giants as the landing spot for Adames. But San Francisco has had a hard time getting star players to sign on the dotted line in recent years, probably due in large part to Oracle Park being seen as a bad place to hit at 81 times a season.”

While the Giants have the desire to sign a superstar and the next face of the franchise, there have been some indications that they might not break the bank this offseason. However, at the same time, they have been linked to some of the top free agents this winter. 

Currently, the biggest need for San Francisco is in their lineup. While Juan Soto would be a great addition, him going to the Bay Area seems unlikely. However, a player like Willy Adames or Alex Bregman might be a more realistic target. Neither one of those players would be cheap, but both would instantly upgrade the lineup. 

Advertisement

In addition to trying to upgrade the lineup, the Giants also saw Blake Snell decline his player option to become a free agent. Considering how good Snell was in the second half of the season, it will be interesting to see what the plan is to either bring him back or replace him. 

While San Francisco will certainly be spending this offseason, the real question will be how much the organization is willing to invest. 



Source link

Continue Reading

San Francisco, CA

Atmospheric river storm causes minor flooding in San Francisco

Published

on

Atmospheric river storm causes minor flooding in San Francisco


Some San Francisco roadways and neighborhoods experienced minor flooding Friday as the atmospheric river dumped heavy rain on the city.

Matthew Coric said he was inside his restaurant when all the sudden he noticed water rising outside.

“Water was coming over the curb already and Rainbow Grocery closed for the day because they flooded or started to flood, and the next two restaurants had water in their restaurant already,” said Coric.

Two years ago during another big storm, the entire block flooded with several feet of water.

Advertisement

Coric told KPIX he was determined to not let that happen again, so he and some of his employees grabbed brooms and anything else they could get their hands on and ran towards the flooding.

“These two drains right here on either side of the street, we literally couldn’t see them. This was up above the curb. We were just blindly scraping trying to get it unclogged until we could see the little tornado start,” said Coric.

He said they were able to unclog the drain just in time to stop the water from flooding his restaurant, and that it took about 30 minutes for the water to fully recede. 

While he is happy they were able to avoid another crisis, he said he wishes the city would have been monitoring the area so that he and his employees didn’t have to fix it on their own.

“It flooded two years ago, and then last year the city was like high alert. They would park their trucks out here and make sure nothing happened. But now it’s been two years, they forgot about us again and same thing happened,” said Coric.

Advertisement

He said, from now on when it rains, he’s going to monitor the drains himself and step in anytime he sees them getting clogged.

He recommends that others in areas where flooding happens do the same.

“If you’re out on the street, anybody right, and you see the drain overflowing, I know if you can wait for the city that’s great, but it might not come. Just clean it yourself or get somebody that can just to save everybody a bunch of headaches,” said Coric.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco D.A. announces conviction in 2015 quadruple murder

Published

on

San Francisco D.A. announces conviction in 2015 quadruple murder


Nearly 10 years after a quadruple murder, drive-by shooting shocked the San Francisco Hayes Valley neighborhood, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Friday announced the conviction of the San Francisco man responsible. 

The D.A.’s office issued a news release that said Lee Farley, 36, was found guilty by a jury on four counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances when he opened fire on an occupied vehicle on the night of January 9, 2015.  

Advertisement

According to evidence and testimony, four men were ambushed from behind on Laguna Street just south of Page Steet at around 10 p.m.

The jury found that Farley committed this act as a participant of a criminal street gang and that he was a felon in possession of a firearm. 

Police arrested Farley in the summer of 2016. He was already serving time at a federal prison in Atwater on unrelated weapons charges when he was taken into custody. 

Advertisement

The slayings of Manuel O’Neal, David Saucier II, Harith Atchan and Yalani Chinyamurindi left the victims’ families in turmoil as they waited for justice. 

“I would like to thank the jury for their service in this trial,” said District Attorney Jenkins. “I would also like to thank the mothers and families of the murdered men for their patience, faith and trust in my office to get justice for their families. Our strong legal team fought hard, understanding that while nothing we do can bring back their loved ones, that hopefully this verdict brings them some comfort.”

Advertisement

The D.A. thanked her team and the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide unit for their work on this case. 

Farley’s sentencing will be scheduled after a bench trial on priors. That date is set for Dec. 16, 2024. 



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending