Racial Slur Still Echoes for Family, Amusement Park

Greg Alexander, a black cabinetmaker from Compton, says he wanted revenge and satisfaction when he sued after an employee at Six Flags Magic Mountain shouted profane racial insults at his wife and son.

His battle, he says, was personal.

Civil rights attorneys and activists, however, say Alexander’s lawsuit against the Valencia amusement park is unusual and could have broader implications for businesses employing workers accused of racist acts on the job. Although Magic Mountain has denied blame in the incident and its attorneys have refused comment, the amusement park has offered a $35,000 settlement to the Alexander family.

The family has said it will accept the offer. The agreement will go to a Los Angeles Superior Court judge for approval Tuesday.

Apology Asked

On Sunday, the statewide president of the NAACP said the civil rights group would ask Magic Mountain to sign an agreement promising to hire more minorities, add minorities to the board of directors and improve employee training. He said he also will urge the park to take out newspaper advertisements apologizing for the incident.

The Alexanders, meanwhile, say they have not recovered from the emotional stress caused by the incident, despite eight months of counseling with three psychiatrists at a cost of $5,800.

Such has been the fallout from a brief episode between a family and a teen-age girl at a coin-toss game more than two years ago.

The story begins in July, 1985, in New Orleans, La., where the Alexander family attended a family reunion that attracted more than 500 relatives. On several occasions, Alexander recalled, he and his family bragged that life was good for blacks in California. When asked about racism in the Golden State, Alexander said: “We don’t have those kind of problems.”

The reunion ended and the Alexanders drove back to their home on Pearl Avenue home, accompanied by a two nieces and two nephews visiting California for the first time.

On July 19, Corine Alexander gathered her four children, the visiting relatives, her sister and a niece into a pickup truck and drove to Magic Mountain.

“I wanted to make things fun and special,” she said.

They arrived at the amusement park shortly before noon. About 4:30 p.m., the family decided to play carnival games, and Greg Alexander Jr., then 16, went to a coin toss game where Anna Fessler, a 17-year-old Newhall resident, was working.

The following description of the incident that led to the lawsuit is contained in court documents and in an internal report compiled by Magic Mountain. The report included signed statements by three park employees working with Fessler at the game, called Set Em Up.

Fessler was “roughhousing” with another employee and threw a stuffed animal in his direction. The prize sailed out the booth and landed near Greg Alexander Jr., who later would say he thought the animal was meant for him. He took it and started walking away.

A teen-age employee, Keith Bjornstad, said he heard Fessler call to Greg Jr.: “Give it back. I could lose my job.”

Greg Jr. continued walking, taking the stuffed animal to his mother, who told him to return it to the game booth. Fessler’s supervisor was summoned, the matter discussed and the prize returned. A supervisor warned Fessler that such “roughhousing” was against park policy.

As the episode ended, an employee heard Greg Jr. tell Fessler: “I hope you get fired.” Sometime after that remark, Fessler hurled a racist epithet at the family, employees said. Then she repeated the words.

“I was so surprised and shocked and hurt I couldn’t believe it,” Corine Alexander said in a recent interview. Alexander demanded her money back. “They gave me the refund, I rounded up my children and I left,” she said. The refund amounted to $140.

What followed in the next eight months was described by three psychologists in a report that accompanied the Alexanders’ lawsuit against Magic Mountain and Anna Fessler.

Corine Alexander became withdrawn, nervous and, at times, angry and even violent, the report said.

‘She Beat Me Up’

“A couple of times, I had to protect myself,” her husband said in an interview. “She actually beat me up.”

For months, Corine ignored her role of wife and mother, the psychiatrists wrote. She would come home from her job in the accounting department at Los Angeles County’s Martin Luther King Jr. General Hospital, walk up the stairs and lock herself in her room, they said.

Her erratic behavior affected her husband and their children: Greg Jr., now 18; Narvelle, 19, and 13-year-old twins, Neenon and Joslyn, according to the court documents. Greg Alexander said he was the one who decided after a few weeks to seek counseling for his family. And within days of the incident, Alexander contacted an attorney.

That same week, Alexander said, the visiting nieces and nephews, who had planned to stay the summer, were sent home and Corine joylessly celebrated her 34th birthday. Two days later--July 27, 1985--Magic Mountain fired Anna Fessler, citing “very inappropriate behavior to a guest” in her dismissal notice, which was included in court documents.

Greg Alexander said his lawsuit was a matter of principle. But civil rights lawyers and activists said the suit has broader implications.

Warning to Employers

Jose de Sosa, statewide president of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said the suit will warn employers that they could be held liable for the racist acts of their employees. The family’s attorney, Phillip Feldman, said the suit is significant because lawsuits seeking redress for racial insults have been extremely rare.

Harvey B. Schechter, western states director for the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, agreed that the suit was a rarity. He said he had never heard of a person filing a lawsuit because of a racial or ethnic insult in more than 35 years of work in Los Angeles.

Moreover, the lawsuit makes a unique argument, Feldman said. The suit does not invoke statues proscribing discrimination or defamation. Instead, it focuses on the emotional distress allegedly caused by the remarks and charges Magic Mountain with negligence, saying it created a climate that allowed the incident to occur.

Sherrie Bang, an amusement park spokeswoman, said the park does not condone racist beliefs. “It’s a shame that the rude and inappropriate behavior by an employee has created an issue that impacts the park as well as our employees,” she said.

Even if the settlement between the park and the family is approved Tuesday, the matter will not be over. The suit is still pending against Anna Fessler. The Fessler family referred inquiries to its attorneys, who refused to comment on the case. Her mother only said that Fessler has enrolled in college and found work elsewhere.

On Sunday, De Sosa said the NAACP would try to work with Magic Mountain to prevent racial incidents at the park in the future. He also contended that the Alexander incident is not unique.

“We have had other similar types of complaints about Magic Mountain employees,” he said. “This is not an isolated incident.”

“This is an extremely unfortunate but isolated incident,” replied Bang. One altercation, she said, does not indicate a trend or policy.

“We have hundreds of thousands of blacks and Hispanics that visit our park every year, so I don’t understand the justification of that complaint,” she said Sunday.

As for an apology, Bang said: “From our point of view, the case has been settled.”

Counseling Eases Pain

Greg and Corine Alexander, meanwhile, said $5,800 worth of counseling sessions have helped ease their rage and pain. “We’re pulling together,” she said. But, she added, “we still need some help.”

Did the Alexanders overreact to the incident? Their psychiatrists don’t think so.

In their report, psychiatrists David K. Wellisch, David J. Miklowitz and Angus M. Strachan said a unique combination of events--the happy reunion in Louisiana combined with public humiliation at Magic Mountain--made the family’s reaction plausible.

“There is little doubt in our minds that this incident was causative in bringing about these emotional reactions in these two key family members,” the psychiatrists wrote of Corine and Greg Jr. In time, the emotional problems they experienced adversely affected the entire household, the psychiatrists wrote.

Although the family’s emotional problems might have surfaced anyway, “it is evident that this incident brought to the surface a great deal of emotional distress that has had a traumatic impact on the family,” they wrote.

Corine Alexander put it this way: The child of a white mother and a black father, she said she had never been exposed to blatant racism. Yes, she had heard the offending words before, but “this was the first time it happened to me that way .”