The co-owner of Grandview Golf Club in Pennsylvania called the police two times on five Black women, wanting them removed from the golf course. The women are now filing charges with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Sandra Thompson, 50; Myneca Ojo, 56; Sandra Harrison, 59; Carolyn Dow, 56; and Karen Crosby, 58, who are members of the club, were the only group of African Americans, and women, on the golf course on April 21. The women have said they experienced racial and gender discrimination.
At a rally at Dover United Church of Christ on Monday, attorneys for Thompson, Dow and Harrison announced they are filing charges against the golf club this week. Crosby said she and Ojo also plan to file charges, but their lawyers were not present at the rally, according to the York Daily Record.
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In Harrisburg on Tuesday, 15 state legislators gathered for a news conference to show their support for the women. Their lawyers said the complaints were filed to “send a message that it is unacceptable to target anyone based on gender or race.”
“We want to make sure that this gets as much if not more attention, so we can get everybody to understand the injustice that occurred there and drive the change from that,” Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) said at the rally, according to ABC 27 News.
Thompson, an attorney and president of the York branch of the NAACP and the vice chair of the county Democratic Party, explained in a Facebook post on April 22 that former York County Commissioner Steve Chronister, the father of Grandview’s co-owner Jordan Chronister, spoke on behalf of the club and harassed the group twice, starting after they teed off on the second hole, saying they weren’t keeping up with the pace. He then offered to refund their membership.
The club co-owner called the authorities and the elder Chronister told police the women were delaying tee times for other golfers and then asked officers to remove them.
“We were called there for an issue, the issue did not warrant any charges,” Northern York County Regional Police Chief Mark Bentzel said in a statement. “All parties left and we left as well.”
