CW/TW:
Today’s video tackles a very serious topic and very serious allegations being made against Tesla, some of its employees and its management. It centres around a civil court case filed by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing in the state of California against Tesla and fifty defendants at the company. In discussing the court case and the several years of investigation which led to it, we will be discussing racism in the workplace, including the allegations of widespread use of racial slurs, racist imagery and racist graffiti, in addition to the allegedy overtly racially-motivated discrimination in the work place by the defendents against black and/or African American employees and contractors at Tesla’s various Californian facilities.
To properly cover this, portions of filed court papers containing examples of all of the above will be shared in this video. Those of you watching with younger audience members may wish to review this content first.
For those impacted by the topics discussed in this video, you’ll also find links to resources and support organizations below:
Talking to kids –
Books:
For Teens:
For Adults:
ACLU’s resources for people experiencing racial discrimination in the workplace –
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Filing a Charge of Discrimination:
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division:
List of mental health resources for BIPOC people (broken up by population) –
U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – (1-800-273-8255)
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Last week, California’s Department for Fair Employment and Housing filed an extensive civil court cases against Tesla for alleged racial discrimination and harassment.
Tesla disputes these allegations.
Today we’re looking into the allegations raised by the DFEH in its court filing: – as well as Tesla’s official response to the same.
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00:00 – Disclaimer
02:09 – Introduction
05:02 – History of NUMMI
07:28 – Racism isn’t just a problem at Tesla
09:53 – Specific allegations against Tesla
18:34 – Elon’s reaction to past allegations
20:51 – DFEH’s history on taking on cases
26:00 – Tesla’s previous responses
27:35 – Tesla’s current response
32:03 – Things that don’t look good for Tesla
35:40 – Conclusion.
———-
Presenter: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Camera: Michael Horton
Audio: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
Quotes read on behalf of DFEH: Kate Walton-Elliott
Quotes read on behalf of Tesla, Elon Musk: Winter Tashlin
End Credits, Artwork: Erin Carlie
Coloring: Winter Tashlin
Editor, Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
© Transport Evolved LLC, 2022
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Likes: 1136
Views: 9750
I really appreciate the video. It can seem at times as though the system is out to get Tesla, but the best thing we can do is make sure that the discovery process happens and that all of the evidence and testimony comes forward. It sounds like both parties are ready for this process, and hopefully this will result in closure. I am sure that by the end of this Tesla will come out the other end as a much better workplace, as just the threat that such matters will not be taken lightly will force their hand to do what is right. In some sense, this is a great win for everyone, because a court case will force the matter to resolve sooner, instead of endless back and forth, and they can get back to focusing on EVs.
One thing I would have been curious to see is a comparison of similar suits and allegations at other factories. Notably, these allegations sound quite bad, but I don't really have much of a context. What kinds of things do people allege happen at, say, a Heinz factory. Perhaps these are rare allegations, or perhaps these are common allegations. It would be interesting to know for context to understand how true Tesla's implication of these being baseless accusations really is. Certainly, if this is out of the ordinary, it is more likely the language is simply a PR deflection to drive the narrative for those that trust them to dismiss the allegations. However, if these are common allegations, perhaps they are actually being targeted. Tesla is fairly controversial and under quite the magnifying glass in general, for many reasons, so it could be good to understand the difference. Then again, maybe all of this simply serves the idea that "any news is good news", and we are all making a kind of mistake in general by feeding into it and talking about Tesla so much. Random thought, but that probably wont stop me from clicking on videos, negative or positive, that you all make which have Tesla in the title, so I apologize for being part of the driving force on that one 😅.
The only thorough report I've seen. Excellent. I've been wondering what's going on.
Great video…this is a very under reported story…
As someone who was recently fired from their job for discriminatory reasons, I appreciate your coverage of this story. I will not purchase a Tesla product until this matter is resolved.
WTHeck.., 😲 is going on inside of TESLA with its management team and the basic practice of equality..??? 🤔💯🤦🏾♂️ As a professional man of color who has been a "Huge Fanboy" for this company from the begining, when everyone thought they were a joke..!!! 😳 I'm very.., very disappointed about these allegations..!!! 😳🤷🏽♂️
My contempt for Tesla and its sycophants only grows.
04:20 Aaaah!!! One side audio!!! cringe twitch shudder -> A plea for copying mono audio to both channels, from those who have physical reactions to audio mismatches.
Transport Evolved: Digging into the real uncomfortable issues!
How this is tolerated !
But it seem that company are held to correct a societal problem.
It speaks for itself that many workers have a Confederate flag tatoo. Just what level of brain power do you think they possess? They have an emblem of racial hatred stamped right on their body. Knowing what goes on in any factory setting, i.e. Workers pushed to their limits doing mind numbing repetitive work, it is simply a matter of time before they blame someone for their situation. Whites blame blacks, especially if they see a black promoted because in their simple racist minds, a black person could not be smarter or more productive than they are. After all they still believe all the old stereotypes handed down generation to generation for hundreds of years and are teaching their children the same racism. Blacks blame whites and the system because it really has always been stacked in the white mans favor. Trump gave racist people a "right" to sound off about how they have been "oppressed." Uncivilized behavior has increased steadily since 2016, racism, lack of respect for laws, blaming someone else for one's own shortcomings. The fact you gave, that Fremont has a very small black population, tells you all you need to know about white attitudes in that area. They are being "invaded" in their narrow minds. Does it not seem strange that this behavior has shown up in most automobile factories? Factory workers are generally not well educated, so they are a lot like sheep, do as they are told, be on the lookout for any unknown wolves that may threaten them. I have seen and heard all this before. I closed my Facebook account because of the rampant, out front, in your face racism. I certainly can not offer Tesla or anyone else advice on how to change inbred hatred or inbred fear. I am certain they could have done more than they have done to bring at least part of this behavior under control, (actually they can only make it hidden, because it will always be there). I see racism being the down fall of America. January 6, 2020, and the events since have proven that to me.