Vietnamese Americans and Cambodian Americans sue BP over Oil Spill

In an email sent to contractors in the Gulf Oil Spill, BP specifically told them not to hire vessels owned by Vietnamese Americans and Cambodian Americans in the oil spill clean-up. Despite the fact that over half of the fisherman affected by the oil spill were Vietnamese Americans and Cambodian Americans, vessels owned by these two ethnic groups comprised of less then 10% of those hired for BP’s clean-up of the oil spill.

41 plaintiffs, representing 4,000 professional fisherman, are now suing in a class-action suit against BP seeking damages for civil rights violations and racial discrimination in employment.