Once on the stand in a courtroom, what do the employers offer in the
way of excuse? The approaches taken by defendants range from the
naively and openly discriminatory to the understated:
Sophia Poskocil, originally of Colombia and a native Spanish speaker,
was repeatedly passed over for a position in the Roanoke, Virginia, school
system. This despite the fact that she had an excellent education at a U.S.
college, solid experience and outstanding letters of reference. Poskocil
sued under Title VII:
During the trial, evidence was introduced that the school district
based its decision not to hire Poskocil on student evaluations.
Students in Poskocil’s Northside High School class complained that
Poskocil was difficult to understand because of her foreign accent. In
their evaluations, students wrote, among other things, that the
“instructor [Sophia Poskocil] barely spoke English, [and] was hard to
understand.” Ultimately, the district court granted summary judgment
in favor of the school district, stating that the plaintiff failed to
demonstrate that the county discriminated against her. What is
disturbing about the case is that Poskocil was not applying to teach a
high school English class, which might have made the students’
complaints more relevant, but rather Poskocil was applying to teach
Spanish classes. Moreover, it appears that no one at her trial had a
difficult time understanding her.
(Smith 2005: 253)In Willamina, Oregon, the postmaster was harassed and threatened with
physical violence:
Galdamez began to receive hostile comments from customers and
other residents based on her race, accent, and national origin almost
immediately upon taking the job [of postmaster] in Willamina.
Several customers, including the mayor, expressed displeasure with
having a Hispanic postmaster or criticized her accented English. One
local newspaper referred to Galdamez’s “thick accent from her native