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 GARY BOGDON/THE
 ORLANDO SENTINEL

 Man has sidewalk campaign against racism

 By Maria T. Padilla
 of The Sentinel Staff

 Published in The Orlando Sentinel, April 9, 1998

 Douglas Brooks of Orlando doesn't believe social
 change happens on its own -- sometimes individuals
 have to get involved.

 That's why he took to the street Wednesday, staging a
 miniprotest outside his home after he said a white
 construction worker used a racial slur against black
 co-workers.

 Contractors are burying utility lines at Hampton and
 Garvin streets for the Orlando Utilities Commission.
 Brooks, who is white, said he was ``outraged'' on
 Tuesday morning to hear a crew member call black
 co-workers ``niggers.'' Brooks said he confronted the
 worker and ``got nowhere.''

 So on Wednesday Brooks and a friend, Nanette
 Sterrett, decided to send a message to the worker's
 company, Telcon of Pompano Beach. Sterrett was at
 Brooks' home at the time of the incident and said she
 also heard the slur.

 They loaded an old table with coffee, sugar, cream,
 crackers, a gallon of water, an ice cooler, napkins and
 disposable cups at Garvin and Hampton and placed a
 sign over it that reads, ``Blacks Only.''

 On the pavement next to the table they placed a gallon
 of water and crackers with the sign, ``Whites.''

 Then they wrote a message on a 3-by-4-foot
 poster-board, stating in part: ``Less than 30 years go
 (sic) minorities were not allowed to eat, drink, use
 bathroom facilities or use public transportation with
 or next to whites. On April 7, 1998 I was awakened to
 the sound of an ... employee shouting, `Niggers, it's
 7 a.m.!

 Get to work!' As we approach the millennium, I have to
 wonder have things really changed? ...''

 Brooks said he hopes to keep the sign posted on his
 fence ``indefinitely'' as a reminder to the workers.

 ``We all have to get along. It's an old saying, and
 it's old hat, but it has a lot of value,'' said Brooks,
 who lives at 1920 Garvin St.

 OUC learned of the incident Wednesday and asked Telcon
 to remove the crew member from the site.

 ``We notified the subcontractor that the individual
 wouldn't be able to work on our job site any longer,"
 said OUC spokesman Sheridan Becht.

 Blacks consider the N-word, as it's now known, deeply
 offensive. Most recently, the National Association
 for the Advancement of Colored People spearheaded a
 successful public campaign against the publishers of
 the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary to change
 its definition of the word, which was not considered
 accurate. The NAACP asked for a definition that
 indicated the word was a racial slur.

 On Wednesday, Telcon confirmed the worker has been
 reassigned and that it's investigating the incident.
 Under questioning, the worker denied making the remark,
 said Telcon co-owner Frank D'Alessandro. Many other
 Telcon workers also supported the worker's claim.

 ``I didn't hear the word,'' said Clinton Beverly, a
 black Telcon construction worker who was at the site
 when the slur allegedly was used.

 D'Alessandro said employees of other contractors on
 the site also didn't hear the word.

 He considered the incident ``very out of the norm''
 for the 10-year-old company, half of whose employees
 are minorities.

 D'Alessandro said the accused employee is a dump-truck
 driver who has worked for Telcon for four years. He
 said the employee has a black roommate with whom he
 gets along well.