Joshua Diemert, a former Seattle Human Services Department employee, alleges that he faced racial discrimination after taking part in the city’s Race and Social Justice Initiative. A federal appeals court panel has revived his case, ruling that the incidents he described could be considered by a jury; it did not decide whether his allegations are true.

Diemert says a trainer at a 2019 workshop described white people as cannibals, while other trainers made hostile remarks about white people. He also alleges that a manager discouraged him from applying for a supervisor role in favour of someone from a marginalised community, after which he performed some of the duties without higher pay, and that a colleague denied assistance to an eligible white applicant. He worked for the department from 2013 until resigning in 2021, and filed suit in 2022; a district court dismissed his claims in February 2025.