Communications with Lockheed Martin
While the NOAVA program was in operation in the early 1990s TME repeatedly attempted to resolve its legal disputes with Lockheed. After contacting many law firms in Silicon Valley during the time frame when our case was within the statute of limitations, none were interested in representing TME, even though they agreed the case had strong merit. The case would take too much time and resources, and we had no money. TME also repeatedly attempted to secure assistance from the VA regarding TME's role in the NOAVA program and LISC's discrimination against TME. Simply put, Lockheed management was right... they were too big to touch and we were too little to touch them.
In May of 2020 I told an attorney about the story of my experiences with Lockheed. I told her I wanted to tell my story after all these years but I was afraid Lockheed would squash me again. She told me "They can't do anything to you if you tell the truth." That emboldened me to try to right this terrible wrong. I worked with the attorney during the summer of 2020 to craft correspondence with Lockheed that would provide them with:
The result was correspondence addressed in November 3, 2020 to 21 recipients at Lockheed Martin, along with a 5-page cover letter, nearly one hundred pages of documentation, and the digital movie found on the home page of this website. I asked for $11 million in reparation and in exchange for foregoing publication of our story. Kevin Gingras responded by email as shown below, on November 20, 2020. In that email he verified that our package was received by the members of the Lockheed Martin Board. I finally felt heard! From: Gingras, Kevin <[email protected]> Date: Friday, November 20, 2020 Subject: Clovice Lewis To: Cc: Bloom, Heather A <[email protected]> Dear Ms.: We have received and are reviewing your letters to James Taiclet, Marillyn Hewson, and Maryanne Lavan, dated November 3, 2020, on behalf of Clovice Lewis. Should you have any further correspondence, please reach out to me directly. Sincerely, Kevin Gingras KEVIN R. GINGRAS Vice President & Associate General Counsel Litigation & Compliance L O C K H E E D M A R T I N C O R P O R A T I O N 6801 Rockledge Drive Bethesda, MD 20817 Lockheed Martin, sadly missing all the points...
The correspondence with Lockheed Martin in November of 2020 was an invitation to them to right a grievous wrong. It was clearly not intended as a legal document, but as a precise narrative of events. We acknowledged that the statue of limitations in a potential case against Lockheed is long past.
When presented with an opportunity to address the fundamental request of the correspondence to examine, and learn from, their past behavior, Lockheed failed to do so. Instead of responding to an appeal for justice and reparation, they responded with legalize, which does not morally absolve them, but sadly puts them in the position of doubly harming TME and its former employees. With a little imagination Lockheed might have approached me with a proposal to create a program in Lockheed to inform about, and prevent the possibility of systemic racism in their corporation. With a little compassion they might have offered to explore other means of reparation without admitting any guilt of past transgressions made by others in their name. Behold the awesome power of systemic racism! |
The letter sent to Lockheed Martin on November 3, 2020 is shown below. As can be seen, it was very detailed and specific. It presented a clear narrative of events that occurred over 30 years ago with annotations and references to attached documents.
The letter received from Lockheed Martin on February 17, 2020 is shown below.
It is important to note that all TME personnel are still alive (save Sharon Lewis), and will happily testify to the injustices and racial animus we experienced from Lockheed Integrated Solutions Company.
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NOTE: Lockheed Martin Corporation does not now own, nor is it associated with, Lockheed Integrated Solutions Company. In all instances "Lockheed" is an abbreviation for Lockheed Integrated Solutions Company. The story presented in this website is for historical and educational purposes only. It is a true account of how systemic racism operated in a corporation in the past, and an exposé of how it operates in the present.