Light-Skinned Black Says Lightness Led to Her Firing

Friction between light- and dark-skinned blacks underlies an unusual federal lawsuit in which a black woman says she lost her job because of her light complexion.

Tracy Lynn Morrow said she sued to get her Internal Revenue Service job back and to fight prejudice within her race.

“If there is this problem within our black society, then I think we have to correct it,” Morrow said. “That would make us stronger, too. I feel it would help us as a race.”

Earlier this month, a federal judge denied a motion to dismiss the case, ruling that Morrow could claim job discrimination if she could prove that her supervisor, also black, harassed and ultimately fired her over skin tone.

Morrow, who turns 27 Wednesday, was fired as a clerk-typist in March, 1986. Last July, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allowed her to sue.

Morrow contends that her supervisor, Ruby Lewis, harassed her soon after Lewis was promoted in 1985.

“She tortured me mentally,” Morrow said. “I heard it said that the only reason I got the job was because I had light skin.”

Lewis replied in court documents that Morrow was fired because of incompetence and job attitude, not skin color.

“Since hues of skin have never been a consideration with me, and I never even thought about it until Tracy presented it as an issue in this case, it’s impossible for me to have discriminated against her on that basis,” Lewis said in court documents.