Magic Mountain Settles Suit Alleging Racism : Black Family Gets $35,000 Award

Six Flags Magic Mountain has agreed to pay $35,000 to a black teen-ager and his family who sued the park, saying a female employee shouted racial epithets at him.

Although the agreement settles the family’s complaint against Magic Mountain, the suit is still pending against the employee, who has since left the amusement park, said a park representative and the family’s attorney.

“It’s obviously an unfortunate thing,” park spokeswoman Sherrie Bang said of the incident that prompted the suit.

The attorney, Phillip Feldman, said his clients did not file the suit to make money but to “demonstrate to the black community that we won’t tolerate this behavior in Los Angeles.”

Feldman said that Corine Alexander of Compton took four children and five other relatives to Magic Mountain on July 19, 1985. As the family walked past a ring-toss game, employee Anna Fessler shouted a racial epithet at Greg Alexander Jr., 18, Feldman said. Fessler then repeated the remark, Feldman said.

Corine Alexander complained to the management, and the park refunded the family’s admission, Feldman said.

Bang said Fessler, who was reprimanded after the incident, no longer works for Magic Mountain. Bang did not know whether Fessler had been fired or had quit. Except for the incident that prompted the suit, Fessler had been a model employee, Bang said.

Fessler, who was 17 at the time of the incident, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Feldman said the entire Alexander family entered counseling after the trip to Magic Mountain.

“It’s not the words,” he said. “It’s the sanction that the words had, the authority the words had because they came up at a joyful family outing.”

The suit was filed in July, 1986, on behalf of Corine and Greg Alexander and their children: Greg Jr.; Narvelle, 19, and 13-year-old twins Neenon and Joslyn.

Feldman said the Alexanders sued the park because it created a climate in which racist views were allowed to fester.

Bang said Magic Mountain does not condone racist beliefs. She said park officials were surprised by the suit because they had addressed the family’s complaint promptly and reprimanded the employee.