Big banks Bank of America and Cantor Fitzgerald sued for race discrimination

A former Bank of America manager has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America alleging that the company instituted an “apartheid” system of business allocation. The former manager, a black man named Jack Mitchell, claims that Bank of America steered black employees to low-income black neighborhoods because the bank didn’t think white customers would want black employees to provide them banking services. Mitchell alleges that Bank of America fired him because he complained about this discriminatory practice.

A former Cantor Fitzgerald employee, Jermaine James, has also filed a race discrimination lawsuit against the bank. James, a black man, alleges that the bank’s management condoned racial harassment. For instance, James claims that co-workers made “monkey noises” in his presence and one co-worker once told him that he would be “enjoying his weekend where there won’t be any niggers.” According to James, when he complained that racial discrimination stood in the way of his advancement in the bank, his manager told him that he should transfer to a different location where he could “be around his own people.” James said that he asked the manager what he meant by “his own people” and the manager said he was referring to “black people.”