NOVEMBER 2011

last stop: justice town
Chaldean prevails in SMART case
By Vanessa Denha Garmo
Mazyn Barash has been on a
bus ride of legal wranglings
for seven years that finally
stopped last month inside the Michigan
Civil Rights Commission.
They ruled in favor of Barash, a
Farmington Hills bus mechanic who
in 2004 filed a suit against Suburban
Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation
(SMART), its agents and officers,
members and employees for unlawfully
discriminating against him.
Barash claimed that around the
time the war started in Iraq, co-workers
began to verbally attack him. He
said that he was insulted and threatened
repeatedly at work because of
his Iraqi background and last month
the commissioners reported that
there was clear evidence that the
53-year-old did in fact have racial
slurs hurled at him by colleagues who
worked for SMART in 2003.
After months of abuse, Barash —
a Chaldean from Iraq — left SMART
in 2004 saying he just couldn’t cope
anymore.
Although officials from SMART
have not commented on this case,
the company did defend itself against
Barash’s claims. Over a two and a
half-year period, there were 17 days
of hearings; the hearing referee recommended
a dismissal of the matter.
However, the commission eventually
ruled in favor of Barash and according
to documents by the Civil Rights
Commission, Barash endured a list of
ethnically motivated attacks.
The attacks include: threatening
phone calls, a poster at the workplace
depicting a camel in a crosshairs with
words, “I’d Fly 10,000 Miles to Smoke
a Camel,” and a letter referring to
Barash as a “Sand N-ger.” There was
also outrageous conduct by one coworker
in particular which included
calling Barash a “raghead,” wearing a
towel on his head, telling Barash that
he smokes camels, telling Barash that
he wished he could “kill all Iraqis”
and calling him a “Saddam lover.”
Also, there was a website created
shortly after Barash left his job that
was distributed via email.
“It clearly targeted Chaldeans,”
said Barash. “The guy who created
it even put up a picture of the Chaldean
Church and the Pope with Hitler’s
mustache.”
In the documents, the hearing
referee opined that the communication
and conduct listed was “simply
locker-room trash talk” or the result
of the political climate in Iraq. But
in the end, the commission ruled in
favor of Barash.
“Justice at last,” said Barash. “It
is gratifying to know that the commission
looked at this seriously and
did the right thing. It is very hard for
anyone to see it any other way. I am
grateful that the commission took
the time and effort to review the information
and all the testimonies. I
was finally vindicated.”
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32 CHALDEAN NEWS NOVEMBER 2011