White Georgia Cops Claimed They Were Victims Of ‘Reverse Racism,’ Receive $600k In Lawsuit Settlement

The city of Columbus, Ga., has agreed to pay $600,000 to two white officers who claimed that a Black former police chief discriminated against them because of their race. On Tuesday, the Columbus City Council voted 9-0 to settle the 2022 federal lawsuit. Lt. Tony Litle, Lt. Ralph Dowe, and their lawyers will receive $200,000 each.

Both alleged that former Police Chief Freddie Blackmon passed them up for a promotion because they are white. Blackmon was forced into retirement earlier this year. In addition, Litle and Dowe said that Columbus’ affirmative action plan was “facially discriminatory.” After the city paid Blackmon $400,000 to retire, Columbus’ second Black chief threatened to sue the city for racial discrimination.

Litle and Dowe’s lawsuit claimed that when Blackmon became chief back in 2020, he refused to promote five white captains into open command positions. Blackmon instead opted to alter rules to allow him to promote lieutenants. This decision allowed him to have a pool of more Black candidates eligible for promotion. However, the changes also meant that a 2018 list of people eligible to be promoted to captain—including Litle and Dowe—expired.

Those wanting promotion had to take a new test. The officers were considered “highly recommended for promotion” and according to city rules, this meant that Blackmon was supposed to promote them to captain before people who had lower evaluations. White men were promoted, but Litle and Dowe insisted that Blackmon promoted every eligible Black person and woman.

The pair believe “reverse racism” was the reason they were unfairly passed over. In addition to financial compensation, Litle and Dowe will stay on the police force. “By getting this behind us it allows us to focus all of our energy, all of our time and all of our attention to making Columbus the safest city,” Mayor Skip Henderson said in a statement.