Black Worker at Tyson Poultry Plant Threatened with Noose and Castration — White Worker Who Stood Up for Him Called ‘N-Word Lover,’ Then Both End Up Paying for What They Reported
Two maintenance workers at a Tyson Farms poultry plant in Ringgold, Virginia, say they were forced to work in unsafe conditions, subjected to severe racial harassment, and threatened with physical and sexual violence by openly racist white supervisors who fired them after they complained, in two separately filed federal discrimination lawsuits.
Alvin Clark, a 62-year-old Black mechanic, was the highest-ranking mechanic in his department and the only Black employee on his shift most days, according to his complaint, filed on March 16 in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Virginia.
Hired in July 2024, he claims he was twice passed over for promotions to HVAC and electrical maintenance positions, despite being the most qualified candidate. Managers at the Tyson plant in Ringgold, which opened in 2023 and employs 400, told him they were looking for someone younger, and blithely told him, “Ain’t no ni–er getting the job.”
Clark reported the age and race discrimination to Tyson’s human resources department, but no action was taken to address it, he said.
After that, Tyson’s white leadership harassed and terrorized Clark in retaliation, the lawsuit says.
That included telling him they were going to stab him while brandishing knives in the plant. One manager allegedly said they were going to “cut [his] balls off” and ominously added, “We’re going to do you just like Paul Deshazo,” referencing a Black postal worker in Ringgold killed in 1990 by a white man who cut off Deshazo’s penis, put it in his mouth, shot him, and lit his car on fire.
The plant’s white leaders also taunted Clark with hanging, either by using a drop cord dangling from the ceiling or using a forklift strap in the shape of a noose that was hung from the forks of the forklift and raised up in front of Clark, the lawsuit says.
Another supervisor, Chris Harris, witnessed the harassment of Clark firsthand and did nothing to stop it or intervene, and “joined in by laughing about it and encouraging it” to continue.
Matthew Reeves, a white mechanic hired two months before Clark, was upset about shocking racial harassment directed at Clark and told his co-workers to “stop talking that way” to him and to leave him alone.
Tyson’s white managers then began calling Reeves a “ni—er lover” and told him he needed to separate himself from Clark because Reeves’ skin was not black and he was not Clark’s “kind,” advising him not to sit at the same table as Clark.
Reeves, a born-again Christian, tried quoting religious scripture to convince his co-workers to stop harassing and threatening Clark, his lawsuit says.
A lead supervisor, Taylor Crews, responded by mocking Reeves while using profanity and joking about standing on a Bible.
Another “pointed to a large black male employee on the cleaning crew,” and told Reeves the man “would have his way and rape Mr. Reeves all night long.”
Still another suggested someone would go in the back door of Reeves’ home to have sex with or rape his wife while he was working the night shift.
“What would you do if I broke into your house?” Crews allegedly asked him, prompting Reeves, who was rattled, to beg him not to do it.
Tyson’s male managers often gathered to view sexually explicit images and videos of women and children, the lawsuit says, and Reeves says he spoke out against the activity and told them it was “sinful.”
As the situation devolved leadership began targeting Clark and Reeves together, including one incident when Moser allegedly pulled a loaded gun on them in the plant parking lot and attempted to shoot at Clark, but the gun jammed. Reeves fled in his car, while watching his white supervisors “lifting Mr. Clark up by pulling on his shirt.”
“We don’t have to get you now, we’ll get you down the road,” Tyson’s white managers allegedly warned Clark and Reeves.
Both men were fearful of physical violence that awaited them when they left work each day, worrying that they would be followed home and killed by Tyson’s leadership.
Clark, who had seen his supervisor Harris go inside his car without permission, sometimes stayed in hotels instead of going home while trying to figure out what to do in the face of the ongoing threats, the complaint says.
After denying his promotions, Tyson’s management hired a neighbor of Clark’s, who had no mechanical experience, and then told Clark, “they knew where he lives and insinuated they had eyes on his every movement now that they had sought out and hired his neighbor to work there,” the lawsuit claims.
The harassment and intimidation persisted for months. On one occasion, Clark asked his lead supervisor, Moser, why he did not like Black people. Moser allegedly responded, “I just don’t like ni—ers, I just don’t.”
Seeking help from “the lesser of two evils,” Clark asked Crews to stop Moser from harassing him, to no avail, the complaint says.
The two maintenance workers claim they also faced physical danger and actual injuries in the course of their work due to unsafe working conditions and directives from supervisors.
They were charged with reassembling machines in the plant around 3 a.m. each morning after the cleaning crew finished cleaning, which included spraying acids and other harsh cleaning agents on the equipment. Harris forced Reeves and Clark to begin their work before the cleaners were done, the lawsuit says, making the men inhale noxious chemicals and struggle to breathe.
Clark was sprayed in the eyes with a chemical cleaning agent that caused his eyes to swell up and his voice to change, the lawsuit claims.
On one occasion, the two men were working together to disassemble a heavy steel pipe, which was slippery from the cleaning agent and struck Clark in the face, breaking his nose. He went to the bathroom and manually forced his nose back into place, using dressing and bandages to stop the bleeding.
He says he told Harris he needed to go to the ER for medical attention, but Harris told him, “Just go back to work.” Clark was later medically treated and diagnosed with a nasal fracture that left a scar on his nose.
Another time a heavy gearbox fell on Reeves, pinning him against a steel rail, obstructing his ability to breathe. Clark was the only person who came to his aid, and Harris acted disinterested, while scrolling on his phone, the lawsuit claims.
On March 14, 2025, Clark and Reeves were fed up and called Tyson’s hotline for workplace concerns and reported that Harris was forcing them to work in unsafe and hazardous conditions.
Harris made it apparent that he knew they had made the report and thereafter “doubled down and amplified” his demands that Clark and Reeves begin their work before conditions were safe.
The lawsuit argues that Harris was retaliating against them for complaining about the unsafe conditions and the racial discrimination by supervisors and trying to force Clark and Reeves to resign.
Their supervisors then landed on another pretextual reason to fire them, they claim.
On March 19, 2025, four days after calling Tyson’s worker hotline, Clark and Reeves were called to the office and questioned about leaving work on a prior occasion for a short lunch break without clocking out. They contend that other Tyson employees frequently did the same thing and that management tolerated the practice. Neither had been warned that it was a problem.
Initially suspended for three days pending an investigation, they were both fired a week later.
Clark and Reeves were both “stellar employees” who had never been written up during their first year on the job, the lawsuit asserts. Clark was told that he was doing “an exceptional job” and Reeves had been told he was doing well and had received a raise.
Both men are suing Tyson Farms, Inc. and Tyson Poultry, Inc., subsidiaries of Tyson Foods, for racial discrimination, retaliation, and fostering a hostile work environment in violation of federal civil rights law, Virginia human rights law, and other state laws. Clark also claims age discrimination and Reeves claims religious discrimination under state and federal law.
They seek a jury trial to determine damages, including reinstating them in their jobs and/or front wages and benefits, compensatory damages including back pay and benefits, for emotional pain and suffering, and punitive damages. They also want the court to issue an injunction ordering Tyson to refrain from engaging in unlawful and discriminatory practices.
Attorney Brittany Haddox, who is representing both Clark and Reeves, told The Independent that both of them “are fairly fragile from everything they went through.”
“What happened to Mr. Clark and Mr. Reeves is some of the worst treatment I have seen in the workplace,” Haddox said, adding that other employees have confirmed the pair’s claims and plan to testify in court about what they witnessed.
“I thought I lived in a time when I would never have to represent someone who went through what Mr. Clark and Mr. Reeves have endured,” Haddox said. “I was wrong. But as Nelson Mandela said, ‘No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.’ I look forward to the moment when seven jury members from our community teach the management at Tyson how to do just that and restore the dignity that Mr. Clark and Mr. Reeves deserve as hardworking Americans.”
Asked to address the allegations in the two lawsuits, a Tyson Foods spokesperson emailed this statement to Atlanta Black Star:
“Tyson Foods takes any allegation involving team member safety seriously. We have zero tolerance for racism, harassment, or retaliation in our workplace and are committed to fostering a respectful environment for our team members.”
The defendants have 21 days after being served with the complaints to file a response in court.