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WILKES-BARRE — The man subjected to a racist comment from the manager of the Hollenback Golf Course filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
The filing Tuesday night by Dwayne Harrison came a week after he demanded the firing of the manager employed by the Wilkes-Barre General Municipal Authority.
Harrison, 55, of Forty Fort, said he hasn’t had any follow-up contact since speaking at the Authority’s public meeting on May 25.
“I don’t think they thought I was going to take it that far,” Harrison said Wednesday of his complaint.
The Commission investigates reports of discrimination and works with the parties to resolve the issues raised in a complaint.
Harrison said the complaint detailed what was said to him the afternoon of April 6 as he and a partner were about to tee off at the public course owned by the city and leased to the Authority.
A similar complaint filed with the Commission by the NAACP Wilkes-Barre Branch #2306 stated Course Manager John “Kebs” Kebles Sr. walked up to Harrison and said, “I didn’t know they allowed Blacks to play here.”
Kebles, who later that day approached Harrison and said, “I hope you weren’t offended by what I said earlier,” issued a public apology as part of the steps taken by the Authority to address the incident involving one of its employees.
The Authority declined to identify Kebles as the employee in question and to discuss what discipline it imposed, saying it was personnel issue.
But, Harrison and other members of the area’s Black community who spoke at the meeting made it clear Kebles, who also attended, made the comment.
The Wilkes-Barre branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People left it up to the Authority to decide the appropriate discipline for Kebles.
Harrison, on the other hand, questioned what good it would do for Kebles, 78, to undergo the sensitivity training proposed by the Authority.
“You know, I’ve caught a lot of flak from this,” Harrison said at the meeting. “You know, people are saying to me you, ‘You should just suck it up, he was only kidding.’ I don’t believe so. I don’t believe so.”
Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.