The League of Iowa Human & Civil Rights Agencies

On his first day of work in 2005 at a beverage warehouse in west suburban Northlake, Germaine Benson said he immediately felt tension between black and Hispanic workers. But by 2007, conditions had grown much uglier as Hispanic supervisors repeatedly subjected black employees to racial insults such as "donkey," "monkey" and the n-word, said Benson, who is African-American. This week Benson and six other current or former employees of the Dr Pepper Snapple warehouse filed a federal lawsuit that alleges systematic discrimination took place for more than two years before management took meaningful action.

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