Harvard community protests racist attacks on worker

A strong, multinational, anti-racist picket of Harvard University workers, students and community supporters took place Sept. 3 outside of the Harvard-MIT Data Center. The 40 pickets were assembled to show support for Ravi Raj, a worker there who has been under racist attack by his bosses for several years. Angry chants of “Ravi Raj under attack! What do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” and “No discrimination and no retaliation!” were heard by his supervisors and other workers, who could be seen looking out the upstairs windows. The morning of the picket, an e-mail had been sent to Raj’s co-workers warning them not to talk to any press.

Raj is an immigrant from India who has endured racial slurs directed against him and members of his family. A flyer handed out about his case says: “Ravi has been called racist names, had his office taken away, was told at one point he was fired, and has had food dumped on his desk. He has been passed over for promotion, has been discouraged from participating in social events at work, and has received mediocre evaluations despite very high production and many compliments from colleagues. ...

“On April 24, Ravi had a meeting set up with administrators to challenge unfair criticism of his performance and make a formal complaint of racial discrimination. Just a few hours before the meeting, someone Ravi had never seen before confronted him at work, called him by name, told him he had taken ‘the wrong path’ and should ‘watch out.’ When Ravi asked the man’s name, he was told, ‘call me X,’ and ‘You’ll learn my name soon.’ Management was informed that Ravi reported this incident to the police. On April 27, Ravi got an anonymous phone call from someone asking, ‘How did the police report go?’”

Working with his union representative from the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3650, Raj has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

Greeted with cheers of support when introduced at the picket rally, Raj vowed to continue to fight. Speakers from the Harvard University No Layoffs Campaign, the HUCTW, the Student Labor Action Movement, Service Employees union Local 285, UNITE/HERE, the Women’s Fightback Network, the Bail Out the People Movement and Socialist Action all condemned Harvard’s racism and attempts to divide workers while carrying out layoffs, cutbacks, and speed ups. “We’ll be back! We’ll be back!” shouted the protesters.