Milwaukee KKK, Confederate Flag Cooler Man Fired By Employer

MILWAUKEE, WI — The city contractor who brought a work cooler with KKK and Confederate flag stickers to the job has been fired, according to the city.

"I have spoken to the contractor several times over the weekend," Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban wrote in a Monday email to several aldermen, as reported in the Journal Sentinel. "He fired the individual whose owns the cooler."

The photo and resulting outrage led to someone to vandalizing the job site, spray painting the words “racist” and “go home” on construction equipment there, according to media reports.

According to reports, at 6 p.m. on Monday, organized labor groups the Young Workers Committee and the Coalition of Black trade Unionists will be staging a rally and a press conference in front of Milwaukee City Hall to protest the worker, and urge the city to cut ties with American Sewer Services.
Their joint statement reads, in part:

Organized labor groups will gather Monday to condemn the contractor working for American Sewer Service who displayed the KKK logo on 25th and Wells on Friday while working on a project for the City of Milwaukee.

We call on the City of Milwaukee to immediately end all contracts with American Sewer Service. Furthermore, we call on the City of Milwaukee to employ union represented city employees at prevailing wage. Finally, we call on union brothers and sisters to build the trade union movement to smash bigotry, fascism, and economic and racial oppression.

Man Sees Cooler, Contacts His Alderman

A man walking in the area of 25th St. and Wells Ave. noticed something that caught his attention. His observation was posted on social media, and is now prompting an investigation.

According to an Urban Milwaukee report, area resident Sam Singleton was walking in the area on his way to work Friday when he saw a lunch cooler on the sidewalk with a Confederate Flag and a Ku Klux Klan sticker affixed to it.

According to the report, the work site belongs to the American Sewer Service company, a contractor performing work with the City of Milwaukee.

When Singleton asked about the stickers, workers said they wouldn't tell him who they worked for. When he called his alderman, Bob Bauman, he learned who it was. According to the report, it was American Sewer — the same company that was photographed carrying firearms while on the job last week.

The Milwaukee Department of Public Works issued a statement after the photo went viral on social media:

This afternoon, the City of Milwaukee became aware of this photograph posted on social media. The stickers are offensive to the Administration and DPW. If, in fact, the cooler with the stickers belongs to an individual working on a City contract, it would be best if the individual works someplace other than the City of Milwaukee. DPW continues to investigate this matter."

Image Via Milwaukee Department of Public Works