Christina Cahill had joined a Honda dealership in November 2022 with high hopes of building a strong career. She was appointed as a service advisor with a modest $36,400 base salary. But little did she know that the work environment would become so hostile and racially charged that she would be forced to quit the job.
Cahill filed a civil rights lawsuit on August 29, in which she narrated a series of incidents where her co-workers threw a barrage of racist comments, and the management failed to take any action. She had barely completed six months at Rensselaer Honda in Troy, New York, when a colleague’s question —completely unrelated to work—stunned her.
“Why do all Black people call each other ‘ni—er’?” a White co-worker, Ehren Moppert, asked Cahill.
Cahill, who is Black, replied, “Excuse me?”
When Moppert repeated her question, Cahill reportedly replied, “First of all, you shouldn’t say that to a Black person. It is very offensive. I do not use that language. Have you ever heard me say that word? All Black people do NOT speak that way.”
Cahill, in her lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star, has accused her white colleagues of making repeated racist comments that made her feel humiliated and degraded, which ultimately led her to quit her job.
Read “‘Your Black A—!’: New York Honda Staff Bombarded Black Woman with Racial Slurs, Hung a Monkey at Work, and Drove Her Out of a Job, Lawsuit Claims” on SmartNews: https://t.co/vXRHXAJzul
— Full Negro Alchemist ✊🏿 (@IamjustTerry) September 21, 2025
She stated that the customer base of the dealership included many brown-skinned people of Middle Eastern descent. She has alleged in her complaint that she overheard other service advisors making concerning remarks about customers of color. One such comment was, “Oh, no. Here comes another sand ni—er,” while one of them reportedly also said, “I wish they wouldn’t come here.”
She has alleged that many white service staff would leave the service area when non-White customers would come, so that they wouldn’t have to serve them. And at times when they did, Cahill claims that they treated those customers with less respect than white customers. She also claims that it all happened under the watch of supervisor Blake Race, who never addressed the situation.
In May, when Moppert asked Cahill why Black people call each other the N-word, the latter went to meet service manager Tom Sinkora. She claims that human resources manager Rory Guilfoyle was also present in Sinkora’s office at that time. When she told both men, who are White, about Moppert’s open use of the N-word, Sinkora reportedly promised her that he would talk to Moppert, but never did, according to the lawsuit.
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A few days later, in June 2023, Cahill claims that Moppert recklessly sped past her in a car, cutting her off. When she parked the customer’s car and returned to the service shop, Moppert allegedly said, “If you’re going to act like that, you can pull your own [expletive language] cars around!
“Who are you talking to?” Cahill asked.
Moppert allegedly replied, “Your Black a–. Sinkora allegedly heard the screaming and when Cahill told him about what happened, he suggested she report the incident to Guilfoyle. However, Cahill was disappointed when she was given a warning letter as Guilfoyle labeled the incident a ‘disagreement’.
Cahill has claimed in her lawsuit that the unfair scheduling practices at the dealership gave her fewer hours and less lucrative service assignments in comparison to her white co-workers. She was facing financial losses as service advisors work on commission on the basis of parts and services they sell. When she confronted her manager and said that she was resigning, she was asked to stay as Sinkora promised her a better schedule with more consistent hours and more lucrative assignments.
She agreed to stay, but the scheduling issues were never addressed, she claims. And then things took another bizarre turn.
In September 2023, Cahill spotted a stuffed monkey hanging from a lighting fixture in the service area. She has alleged in her complaint that over the next few months, the monkey was moved around their workspace. She said that nobody took responsibility for bringing it, and even the managers knew of its presence. She complained that she found it offensive but nobody removed it.
In her lawsuit, Cahill mentioned another incident where her white co-workers used the N-word to deliberately irk her. She said that in November, she overheard her white co-workers Jason Foster and Scott Valet, discussing rap songs.
“Hey, Chris, what am I supposed to do when a rap song comes on and the word ‘ni—er’ comes up?” Foster allegedly said.
Cahill reportedly warned him that he shouldn’t use this word in public as it is “highly offensive.”
Foster then argued, “So if my favorite song comes on by Drake and I am in my car, can I say it?”
Cahill said that she told him that he is free to use any word when he is alone or at his home, but he shouldn’t say it in front of a Black person. Cahill believes that the conversation was intended to degrade and humiliate her. As the discussion ended, Foster allegedly “put both of his hands up with two fingers extended mimicking guns, pointed at Plaintiff and exclaimed, ‘Ni—er!'”
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This felt like a final straw to the prolonged racial attacks. Cahill was in tears and started packing up her personal belongings. She put her stuff in her car and when she returned to collect more items, Guilfoyle turned the issue of racism into a discussion about TV sitcoms featuring Black characters. And that was it! Cahill knew that she couldn’t work at this place anymore.
Though Cahill was asked to take a day off, she knew in her heart that she wouldn’t come back. In her lawsuit, Cahill has accused the dealership of racial discrimination in violation of federal and New York state civil rights laws. She is seeking compensation for lost wages and benefits, along with mental, emotional, and physical suffering and distress.
The Honda dealership now has 21 days to file a response after being served with the lawsuit.
