Milwaukee rental company Berrada criticized for employee who put lynching display on work truck
A prominent Milwaukee rental company, Berrada Properties, is facing criticism after photographs and video posted on Facebook showed a Berrada employee using a truck with a trailer featuring a dummy of an African American in shackles being lynched.
The photographs were posted Wednesday and quickly drew dozens of comments condemning the depiction, which features a dummy with a rope around its neck and shackles on its wrists.
Joe Goldberger, an attorney for Youssef "Joe" Berrada, said he was unaware of the display until learning about it from a reporter, but quickly condemned it.
"Following your phone call, I located the offensive posting on Facebook and discussed the matter with my client," Goldberger said in an email. "This abhorrent display was the result of an unauthorized action of an employee of Berrada Properties Management Inc. It was undertaken without any knowledge, and clearly, was not consented to nor condoned by my client."
Goldberger said that immediately after it was brought to Berrada's attention, "the offensive display was ordered removed and the employee sent home."
"The employment status of the individual responsible for this reprehensible display is under review," he added.
Berrada companies own at least 292 properties with more than 3,600 units in the City of Milwaukee and own 8,000 rental units nationwide. Berrada is widely known as "the boulder guy" in Milwaukee because his companies frequently put boulders on the lawns of their properties.
Berrada has faced criticism in the past from local housing advocates who say the companies sometimes run roughshod over tenants and use small claims court as a collection agency. The approximately 75 firms owned by or linked to Berrada — most of them limited liability companies — were behind more than one out of every 10 eviction cases filed last year in the county, a recent Journal Sentinel analysis found.
But some city officials praise Berrada, saying he oversees a well-run operation that buys and rehabs neighborhood eyesores.
On Wednesday, Goldberger apologized for the display and said the company wouldn't tolerate it.
"While an apology to the community at large is wholly inadequate, at this juncture and, on behalf of my client, it's all I can offer," he said. "I cannot state, in strong enough terms, that this disgusting display is in no way reflective of the core values of Berrada Properties Management Inc. and, will not, under any circumstance, be tolerated."
Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.