(NAME-MCE) Secret Service Agent Released Over Noose

[Anselmo Villanueva]

 Secret Service Agent Released Over Noose
<http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/?p=2832>  Posted May 1, 2008

http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/?p=2832&cid=idnb

*Black agents have long argued that they must fight discrimination on a
regular basis*

The U.S. Secret Service, the federal agency whose No. 1 job is to protect
the president, has released a White agent after a Black employee said he
found a noose hanging at the main training facility near Washington, D.C.
"The employee involved has been placed on administrative leave pending an
investigation by our Office of Professional Responsibility, which
serves as [image:
Noose]the agency's internal affairs office," Edwin M. Donovan, assistant
special agent in charge of government and public affairs, wrote in an e-mail
response to Cox Newspapers. "At the conclusion of the investigation,
additional information may be available." The noose incident comes at a time
when the agency is battling image problems concerning charges that it is a
bastion of racial hostility. A federal judge is supposed to decide next
month whether the Secret Service should be penalized for withholding
evidence in a long-running civil suit alleging discrimination, Cox reports.
The lawsuit claims that the Secret Service regularly and systematically
discriminates against African-American agents seeking promotion in favor of
White agents who scored lower on promotional exams. Some 60 Black agents
have submitted sworn statements backing up the allegations. The judge
already has sanctioned the agency three times since the lawsuit began nearly
four years ago. The Secret Service is appealing her rulings. Fellow agents
acknowledge that a veteran agent is responsible for the misconduct at the
J.J. Rowley Training Center in Beltsville, Md., and that an employee has
been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an
investigation. A Black officer in the uniform division found the noose on
April 14. "We are appalled but unfortunately not surprised that a noose was
prominently displayed recently in a secret service training center,"
Jennifer Klar, a lawyer at Relman & Dane.Klar told Cox in an interview.
"This incident of racial hatred is troubling in an agency that has the
important duty of protecting world leaders of all races, including our own
leaders such as (presidential candidate) Barack Obama and (Secretary of
State) Condoleezza Rice. This racist incident is a reminder that long time
discrimination in the secret service has created an atmosphere where such
hateful acts occur all too regularly," Klar said. In recent months, the
service was criticized for allowing thousands to enter an arena in Dallas to
hear Obama speak without being properly searched. Eric Zahren, a spokesman
for the service, said, "The Secret Service is extremely proud of the
accomplishments of our diverse work force and our record on diversity. The
Secret Service has not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind."