Mauricia Grant Discusses Suit, Speaks Against NASCAR Culture
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Grant Discusses Suit, NASCAR
Culture In SI.com Q&A |
Former NASCAR technical inspector Mauricia Grant, who earlier this month filed a $225M sexual and racial harassment lawsuit against NASCAR, participated in a Q&A with SI.com's Tom Bowles. Grant said the sport needs to "stop hiring their ignorant brothers, cousins and uncles of theirs, and start hiring qualified, educated people." Grant: "Stop giving 'Uncle Frank' a hookup knowing that he's ignorant." When asked if diversity training could help, Grant said, "That's not going to work. You can't sit people in a room and say, 'Now you're going to change.' You can't blow up a black blowup doll and say, 'Look at their eyes. This is their nose.' That's stupid. You need to hire people who are well-rounded, educated, capable of stepping into any type of environment and not making themselves look like a fool." Grant added, "I would like to say to people I know (who) have had those same experiences, that they need to step forward now." Grant said of NASCAR, "What I expected when I went to work for this multibillion dollar company was a professional work environment, where the focus was on the cars, the drivers, and the competition; not of why is my hair different today than it was yesterday, or why I don't get sunburn or why the palms of my hands are white? That's not what I expected. I expected professionalism." Grant said of NASCAR's future, "After me coming forward, their backs are against the wall and they're going to have to diversify their sport, whether they want to or not. If they're going to continue to approach the black community and other communities in the nation with advertisements and trying to lure them in, they're going to have to make it more open for black drivers, black crews -- I just think that in five years, there has to be more black drivers, more black crew members, more black crew chiefs, more women" (SI.com, 6/18).
STUCK IN NEUTRAL: In Hartford, Shawn Courchesne notes NASCAR has helped fund the Drive for Diversity program, which seeks to "develop minority and female drivers and crew members." But the program has "seemed more like a revolving door than a steppingstone," as "no driver who has participated in the program has come close to landing a full-time ride in one of NASCAR's three national divisions." Also, garage at those levels, "from crew members to officials, remains dominated in the same way it has been for years, by white males" (HARTFORD COURANT, 6/20).
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