Emails
During the lawsuits, a production of documents and emails from Mercantile was uncovered and many racist emails were exposed. If the personal stories of the 10 plaintiffs don’t prove the banks discriminatory practices enough, the racist emails exposed surely prove the intent of the high level bank officials. In a 2006 email, Mercantile Bank’s CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Michael Price told Mercantile’s Executive Vice President and COO, Mr. Kaminsky that the bank’s leaders want to “nip . . . in the bud” the discussion that “we [Mercantile] should lend more $ to black people.” Mr. Price stated further that as far as business ideas went in 2006, lending more money to black people was his “personal favorite right now.” Bank CEO believes that “not lending more money to black people” is a business strategy but we disagree. More recently, in response to a Mercantile employee’s question about Mercantile’s supplier diversity program, Mr. Don Williams, a former board member, stated that Mercantile must first deal with its “18 year culture,” from which a fact-finder could reasonably infer that Mr. Williams was referring to a culture of racial intolerance. In a 2005 email, Mr. Price tells Mr. Kaminski: “if only Mike hadn’t put [Boardmember A] and [Boardmember B] on the Board! Darn him!” Board-members A and B were two of Mercantile’s three black board members at the time. Neither remains on the board. On August 4, 2014, Mr. Christmas sent an email to Mercantile Bank’s Senior Vice President Accounting Manager, Daren Gantz and Tony Barendsen, Mercantile Bank’s Director of Facilities entitled “quotable.” The August 4, 2014 email calls America stupid for claiming that the government discriminates against black Americans when “they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans-3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics!” A few minutes later, Mr. Christmas forwarded the same email to Mercantile Bank’s Senior Vice President, Senior Lending Officer, Ray Reitsema, with the comment that America is “Messed Up!” Commercial Loan Officer, Justin Karl received an email with many disgusting comments in it, such as, “Michael Brown was a nigger; a sorry assed, criminal, hoodlum nigger who was some kind of bad-ass nigger as a result of gangsta rap, weed, guns, drinking, and those stupid assed low-profile rims.” This disturbing email refers to Michael Brown, who was murdered by police in 2014 while in their custody.
During the lawsuits, a production of documents and emails from Mercantile was uncovered and many racist emails were exposed. If the personal stories of the 10 plaintiffs don’t prove the banks discriminatory practices enough, the racist emails exposed surely prove the intent of the high level bank officials. In a 2006 email, Mercantile Bank’s CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Michael Price told Mercantile’s Executive Vice President and COO, Mr. Kaminsky that the bank’s leaders want to “nip . . . in the bud” the discussion that “we [Mercantile] should lend more $ to black people.” Mr. Price stated further that as far as business ideas went in 2006, lending more money to black people was his “personal favorite right now.” Bank CEO believes that “not lending more money to black people” is a business strategy but we disagree. More recently, in response to a Mercantile employee’s question about Mercantile’s supplier diversity program, Mr. Don Williams, a former board member, stated that Mercantile must first deal with its “18 year culture,” from which a fact-finder could reasonably infer that Mr. Williams was referring to a culture of racial intolerance. In a 2005 email, Mr. Price tells Mr. Kaminski: “if only Mike hadn’t put [Boardmember A] and [Boardmember B] on the Board! Darn him!” Board-members A and B were two of Mercantile’s three black board members at the time. Neither remains on the board. On August 4, 2014, Mr. Christmas sent an email to Mercantile Bank’s Senior Vice President Accounting Manager, Daren Gantz and Tony Barendsen, Mercantile Bank’s Director of Facilities entitled “quotable.” The August 4, 2014 email calls America stupid for claiming that the government discriminates against black Americans when “they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans-3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics!” A few minutes later, Mr. Christmas forwarded the same email to Mercantile Bank’s Senior Vice President, Senior Lending Officer, Ray Reitsema, with the comment that America is “Messed Up!” Commercial Loan Officer, Justin Karl received an email with many disgusting comments in it, such as, “Michael Brown was a nigger; a sorry assed, criminal, hoodlum nigger who was some kind of bad-ass nigger as a result of gangsta rap, weed, guns, drinking, and those stupid assed low-profile rims.” This disturbing email refers to Michael Brown, who was murdered by police in 2014 while in their custody.
Third Amended complaint in the United States District Court, Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.
