GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It's been more than a year since Tracy Evans first filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against Founders Brewing Company, but the lawsuit made national headlines just this past week.
"This is larger than just this case," Evans said Sunday, after speaking about racial justice and workplace harassment at the Feminist Film Festival in Grand Rapids.
The recent leak of a deposition transcript in which the now former Detroit general manager, Dominic Ryan, refused to admit that Evans was black - led to outrage.
The backlash that ensued led Founders to pull out of a Detroit beer festival and close its Detroit taproom indefinitely. The brewery's director of diversity and inclusion, Graci Harkema, also resigned on Friday. Harkema, who was hired shortly after the lawsuit was filed, said Founders leadership ignored her advice about how to respond to the controversy.
"Our defense is NOT, nor ever has been, that we do not see color, that is simply absurd. Founders has always known Tracy Evans is black and we admitted it in our very first statement in the lawsuit," Founders co-founder and CEO Mike Stevens wrote in a statement.
Evans said the support he's received recently has given him the strength to keep fighting.
"It's very validating. I've been dealing with this for years, this is not new," Evans said. "It's nice to get to this point where you're being so supported."
Evans said the racism he experienced at Founders pushed him to the point of doing something about it. According to the lawsuit, Evans coworkers repeatedly called him the n-word and ignored his pleas for them to stop. Evans believes he was fired for attempting to speak with human resources about the 'racist internal corporate culture.' Stevens said that Evans was terminated due to a lack of improvement.
"So many times we don't speak up about these things because we don't want to be singled out or create waves within the system," Evans said. "I felt it was important to say something."
Evans said there are still employees at Founders who he loves. He said he's disappointed that the brewery's leadership has put their employees in this position for public scrutiny.
"Because then that threatens your livelihood, how you make your income. and how you're seen as a human and an individual," he said. "It looks bad for Grand Rapids, it looks really bad for the beer industry."
Founders CEO and co-founder Mike Stevens issued 13 ON YOUR SIDE this statement Sunday evening:
“In reference to the deposition, our defense is NOT, nor ever has been, that we do not see color, that is simply absurd. Founders has always known Tracy Evans is black and we admitted it in our very first statement in the lawsuit. The stated defense of Founders remains the same that it always has been – that Tracy was terminated due to lack of job performance after repeated, documented efforts to help him improve. This is well documented throughout his HR file. Our upcoming motion to dismiss the case will lay out, chapter and verse, all of the chances Tracy got and why we ultimately had to terminate his employment.
Unfortunately plenty of untruths are being spread on social media, such as claims that Founders named certain printers “white guy printer” and “black guy printer.” This claim is false. Founders did not, and would not, name its printers in this fashion. And no employee, including Tracy, raised concerns about such a thing. We look forward to the truths to prevail and getting back to constructive good, rather than tearing people apart.”
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► Emma Nicolas is a multimedia journalist. Have a news tip or question for Emma? Get in touch by email, Facebook or Twitter.
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