CLEVELAND (AP) — The Black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises in Ohio says one of the world’s largest restaurant chains has shown more favorable treatment to white owners and denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in more affluent communities, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Youngstown.

The lawsuit filed by Herbert Washington, a former college track star who played for parts of two seasons with the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1970s, said the Chicago-based company’s discriminatory practices has led to a $700,000 sales gap between Black-owned franchises and those owned by whites.

The number of Black franchise owners has fallen from 377 in 1998 to 186 today, while the total number of stores has more than doubled to 40,000, the lawsuit said.

“By relegating Black owners to the oldest stores in the toughest neighborhoods, McDonald’s ensured that Black franchisees would never achieve the levels of success that White franchisees could expect,” the lawsuit said. “Black franchisees must spend more to operate their stores while White franchisees get to realize the full benefit of their labors,” the lawsuit said.

McDonald’s issued a statement on Tuesday denying Washington’s assertions. The company said Washington is “facing business challenges” for which the company has “invested significantly in his organization” while offering him ”multiple opportunities over several years to address these issues.”

“This situation is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards on people, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment,” the statement said.

More than 50 former Black McDonald’s franchise owners made similar claims in a lawsuit filed against the company in September.

The “challenge activity” was developed by the region’s Inclusive Durham Committee, who in December reportedly ordered the removal of a Second World War exhibit for its display of the German “Iron Cross” symbol.

Author Desmond Cole posted a tweet sharing the exercise that encouraged regional employees to  “have a conversation with a Black employee,” cook an “African meal” or dance to a reggae song, the Sun reports.

A region twitter account responded to the tweet explaining their recognition of Black History Month “include opportunities for staff to learn more about Black history, culture and achievements.”

An apology for the off-color proposal was finally given Thursday in a statement by Regional Chair John Henry and CAO Elaine Baxter Trahair.

Durham Region had to issue an apology after their Black History Month scavenger hunt sparked harsh backlash online. “As part of Durham Region’s Black History Month initiatives, an internal challenge activity for Durham Region staff was a mistake,” the statement read.

“It has caused harm to our Black employees and community — damaging the inclusive culture that we are trying to build. We take responsibility and we are committed to doing better,” it continued.

In recent years, black women’s contributions to the space race have started to come to light.

Many were recruited as “computers”, meaning that they carried out complex mathematical calculations by hand, before machines were invented that could do the job.

Christine Darden started her career in the computer pool, helping the engineers work out the trajectories needed to bring the Apollo Capsule back to Earth.

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