Former Hawks Employee Sues Team For Discriminating Against White People

Margo Kline, formerly a community development coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks, has filed a lawsuit against the team in which she claims she was discriminated against because of her race and gender.

In the suit, Kline specifically accuses David Lee, a black man who supervised her, of promoting a “culture of discrimination against white individuals.” The suit includes a list of non-specific examples of Lee’s alleged discriminatory practices:

The lawsuit also contains a very strange anecdote about a lunch meeting Kline had with Nzinga Shaw, a black woman who is the Hawks’ chief diversity and inclusion officer. According to the suit, Kline and Shaw had this conversation during the lunch:

At that lunch, Plaintiff shared her ongoing concerns about the inappropriate and discriminatory behavior she was experiencing and witnessing. Among other things, she reminded Ms. Shaw of a group discussion a few days prior in which Ms. Shaw showed Plaintiff and Mr. Lee a picture of a political campaign at a local HBCU (Historically Black College and University) saying, “Look at this, they have a group called ‘Blacks for Trump.’” Mr. Lee stated that he refused to believe it, and “it was probably just a bunch of white people in black face.” Although Ms. Shaw laughed at the comment at the time, at the lunch on February 3, 2017, Ms. Shaw told Plaintiff that Mr. Lee’s comment was ignorant and said, “That could be a lawsuit!”

According to the suit, that lunch was followed by Kline being called into a meeting with Shaw and an HR rep (the suit makes sure to point out that the HR rep is also a black woman), and was informed that she was being put on a “final written warning” due to “ongoing deficiencies in her conduct and/or performance.” Three weeks later, Kline was fired.

You can read the entire suit below: