Tesla attorneys are defending the use of the N-word in certain contexts as the electric vehicle company faces California in a sweeping racial discrimination trial over alleged discrimination affecting thousands of Black workers.
According to Futurism, during opening arguments in Alameda County Superior Court, Tesla attorney Tyree P. Jones Jr. argued that the slur can function as a “term of respect and endearment” within the Black community. Jones cited music from Kanye West and Jay-Z to make the distinction.
“This trial is not about the N-word — the N-word is not on trial here,” Jones told Judge Peter Borkon, who will decide the case in a bench trial.
The state of California’s case centers in part on allegations that non-Black Tesla employees and managers directed racial slurs at Black workers at the company's Fremont factory. The California Civil Rights Department also alleges the harassment was part of broader discrimination involving pay, job assignments, promotions, discipline, and retaliation. An analysis cited by the agency found Black workers earned $1,533 less per month than white workers between June 2018 and June 2024.
Tesla maintains that it has policies against workplace misconduct and disciplines employees who violate them. Jones argued that there is currently nothing for the court to stop, asking, “The question is what is there to enjoin? The answer to that is: nothing.”
But the trial's first witness, former Tesla employee Ryan Edwards, testified that a non-Black coworker called him the N-word while threatening him. Edwards said he reported the incident but later discovered managers had written him up in connection with it. He also testified that the company repeatedly passed him over for other positions.
The opening days of testimony also produced a separate dispute involving Tesla's legal team. Edwards testified that senior Tesla corporate counsel Timothy Kim contacted him shortly before trial and initially left him with the impression that Kim represented the state.
Edwards also said that the roughly 30-minute conversation included questions about his experiences at Tesla and what settlement he might accept.
California attorneys also said at least four additional potential witnesses had fallen off the state's “radar” and raised concerns that Tesla's lawyers may have contacted them before trial. Judge Borkon told the CRD it could formally seek court intervention over the potential contacts. No finding of misconduct has been made against Tesla's attorneys.
The state sued Tesla in 2022 following an approximately three-year investigation. Its complaint alleges that racial slurs were pervasive at Fremont, including among supervisors and managers, while workers allegedly referred to the factory as the “plantation” and Black employees as “slaves.” The CRD also alleges racist graffiti, including swastikas, appeared in common areas without an adequate response from management.
The current case adds to years of litigation over working conditions at Fremont. Hundreds of Black workers are still pursuing individual claims from another long-running lawsuit after Tesla reached confidential settlements with three named plaintiffs earlier this year.
The state trial is expected to continue through October.
