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Battle Axe In The Time Of Battle
“Leader.” “Community activist.”
“Civil rights fighter.” “Organizer.” “A
drum major for justice.” These are just
a few of the words people use to describe
Athens native Dorsey Williams, a man
who is rapidly building a reputation as
someone that can be counted on to stand
up against injustice.
“Troublemaker.” “Agitator.”
“Rabble-rouser.” “Agent Provocateur.”
These adjectives are used by ad
ministrators of some of the leading
employers in Clarke County when they
think of Dorsey Williams. Their negative
viewpoint is derived from his success in
organizing disgruntled employees and
convincing them to demand an end to
work place discrimination.
Over the last four years, Dorsey
Williams has been busy building this dual
reputation of servant to the people, and
pain in the rear of big business. A former
employee of Carrier Transicold, he
became interested in worker’s rights after
witnessing horrendous acts of discrimina
tion on his job.
It was more than his heart could bear
to see racial slurs scrawled on the
bathroom walls; sick white employees
refuse assistance from the company
nurse just because she was black; and
black co-workers, suffering job related
injuries, writhing in pain as whites did
nothing to assist them. He began to
speak out. He began to question why the
company would tolerate such a racist
climate, why it had few blacks in
management, and why were promotional
opportunities limited for blacks?
His answer from Carrier came in the
form of a release from his duties. In
other words, Mr. Williams was fired for
asking his employers if they had missed
out on the civil rights movement.
Williams said he was offered the op
portunity to keep his $26,000 a year posi
tion if he would “just stay in my place”
and not make waves. But, apparently he
did not see keeping silent as his rightful
place.
“My place in American society is to
protect my family. My place in American
4
society is to stand up for my people,” he
said in a tone reminiscent of his favorite
black leader - Malcolm X. “A job does
not mean that much to me ’cause I can
dig ditches. I’m not going to be a boy
for nobody.”
So, Williams and fellow Carrier
employees, former and present, organiz
ed to challenge these acts of bigotry.
They named themselves “Carrier
Employees for Justice” and sought legal
counsel from the law firm of Nelson and
Hill, which had successfully represented
local black employees in a discrimination
suit against the business giant
Westinghouse.
The Carrier employees were soon join
ed by disgruntled workers from the
Athens Regional Medical Center
(ARMC) and DuPont. Together they
formulated “Employees for Justice”, a
group dedicated to securing rights of
black, white, old, and young employees
throughout Northeast Georgia. Their
membership recently increased when
laborers from Delmar joined the ranks.
Through it all, Williams has been a
driving force. He has organized
demonstrations, authored news articles
and letters to the editor, met with local
politicians and anything else to draw
public attention to the plight of workers.
He has been out front in fundraising ef
forts so the employees can meet legal
cost. And, he has been a combination
cheerleader, motivator and shepherd in
an effort to keep employees united dur
ing their long legal fight to end
discrimination.
The tactics of Employees for Justice
have already reaped some cosmetic
changes. Carrier now has an African-
American plant manager, and recently
sponsored a traveling photo exhibit of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ARMC has
hired a new black department head, who
will address some of the complaints level
ed by the hospital wing of Employees for
Justice. However, these small victories
do not satisfy Williams.
In fact, he said there is no reason for
anyone to feel exhilarated over com
panies finally doing the right thing.
Williams said, “It makes me feel sad
when time and time again we as a peo
ple have to take people to court; we have
to threaten people; we have to march on
people” just to be treated fairly.
Growing up in Rocksprings Homes,
Williams said he noticed discrimination
at an early age. He recalled that his first
hint of unfair treatment of blacks was
presented by the University of Georgia
during the early 1960’s. He knew that
lots of blacks, like his mother Katherine,
were employed in menial jobs at the in
stitution, but none were allowed to
matriculate there.
“I couldn’t understand why?”, he ex
pounded. “I had always been led to
believe that we had fought in every war
of this country and gave our life. Yet, we
still could not go to the places white peo
ple could go.”
Now' employed as a paralegal for
Nelson and Hill, Williams feels the same
attitude that existed at the university in
the ’60’s is present in the work place to
day. “There is a system set up to keep
the blacks and whites apart, But, blacks
bear most of the burden because they are
denied promotions, denied training, and
denied opportunities to advance. It’s
basically something that is deeply rooted
in the (white) human being. And, that is
the mentality that black people can’t
possibly be as good as us,” he said about
the discrimination in the plants.
ZEBRA VOL. 2 ISSUE 8