African American Women Suing Golf Course Over Allegations of Harassment
Two African American women have filed a racial and gender discrimination lawsuit suit on Monday, April 20 against a golf course whose management they say called the police on their group for playing too slowly back in 2018.
Myneca Ojo and Karen Crosby allege that while they played with three other Black women at Grandview Golf Course in York County, Pennsylvania, one of the owners approached them to say they were not keeping pace and delaying tee times for golfers who were behind them, according to CNN. They were also told their five member group was more than the normal four. The women have said they were allowed the extra player before they started to play.
The lawsuit is filed against Brew Vino LLC, which owns the Grandview Golf Course and alleges co-owner, Steve Chronister, called 911 on the group after he confronted them. But the women say they weren’t playing slowly and implied that Chronister had been treating them differently than other golfers.
Three of the women left the course after the first nine holes because of the incident, but Ojo and another woman, Sandra Thompson continued. They alleged to have been confronted again as they played the latter holes in the course and that’s when an argument ensued between them and the management, the lawsuit says.
The golf course offered to refund them the price of their memberships, but the women turned it down. That’s when Chronister called 911 once more. The women did eventually leave, but it’s not clear if they left on their own or were escorted away by police.
While their lawsuit does not indicate a specific amount of remuneration, they have requested a jury trial along with compensatory and punitive damages.
Information from a Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission hearing includes the testimony of a man who was playing behind the group and said that he did not feel he was being held up by them and that he arees that they were being unfairly targeted. Lawyers representing Ojo and Crosby told CNN that the PHRC determined that the women had been harassed and have decided to take the case to federal court.
"The civil rights violations undertook by representatives of Grandview Golf Course against our clients in April of 2018 continue to shock the conscience of civil-minded Americans," attorneys John L. Rollins and Mary H. Powell said in a statement.
Crosby said that she has stopped golfing after the incident, but that she is glad the suit is finally moving forward.
"This is a small area and there was a lot of attention brought to it, we just didn't feel comfortable doing it," she said. "Hopefully this year we will be able to play again once this dies down. We'd like to."
