White Family to Move to Settle Racial Bias Suit
A white couple have agreed to sell their home of 20 years to settle a $10-million lawsuit accusing the family of harassing their next-door neighbors with racial slurs and death threats.
The neighbors who filed the federal civil rights suit are a Chicago policeman of black and Puerto Rican descent and his Puerto Rican wife, Isidor and Minerva Ramos. They moved to the Northwest Side neighborhood in 1985.
“Close this chapter in your lives,” U.S. District Judge Ann Williams told both families Tuesday when the settlement was reached. “Get over it and move on.”
The lawsuit alleged that a year after the Ramoses moved next door, John and Marie Kraft, their three children and a son-in-law began hurling racial insults and obscenities at the Ramos family. The harassment eventually escalated to death threats, the lawsuit alleged.
The Krafts denied the allegations, but to avoid a costly legal battle, they agreed to move out, their attorney said.
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