Ever since the civil rights movement and the overturn of the Jim Crow laws (and the establishment of the right to interracial marriage), laws to prevent gun ownership based on race (even by implication, such as based on neighborhood) have been successfully challenged, but that doesn't stop the police rushing to escalation once it's established a someone has a gun, and blacks are represented disproportionately in officer-involved homicide.
But I can't say I have the data specifically regarding armed black suspects verses armed white suspects. Still if you're black in Missouri or Mississippi (or Oakland, California -- the US teems with a lot of racial-tension hot zones) then yes, the police are more likely to escalate a situation or shoot at you than if you are white, but that's true regardless if you have a gun.
Also blacks are convicted of crimes, violent or otherwise, statistically more often than whites with less evidence, and are given harsher sentences than whites for the same crimes, and this includes possession of illegal firearms. I suspect it's harder for nonwhites to get concealed-carry permits in states they are needed.
(My impression is no-one really likes open-carry in urban or suburban regions. Even here in California, there are rural towns where one could carry a rifle on their back, at least during hunting season, especially since the local economies depend on hunting tourism. So you're not going to be bothered by the county sheriff along the California / Nevada border the way you would say, in the Bay Area.)
The killing of Philando Castile in 2016 serves as an example of what blacks fear. He was pulled over for a broken tail-light, announced he was armed to Officer Jeronimo Yanez of the St. Anthony PD. Yanez freaked out and shot Castile seven times, two of which penetrated his heart. (Of note is that in the last thirteen years, Castile had been pulled over 39 times in that area for broken tail-light type offenses.) Yanez was tried and acquitted. He was removed from that precinct but as far as we know Yanez is serving as law enforcement elsewhere.
At this point, skip asking for a raise and go straight to forming a union. It saves time. It implies they should have been taking care of the workforce in the first place. And your colleagues likely need raises too.
Then over demand, because they'll try to offer less. If they try any technical or procedual shenanigans, show they've been caught and double your demands.
Remind them that unions and strikes are the peaceful alternative to violent retribution, and by trying to block unionization they are admitting they'd rather a class war.
If law enforcement gets involved, tell the state that siding with the owners will only escalate thr conflict, and extend the precarity out to the rest of the economy. Stock values will totally tank, and legislators and gubernators will be held personally responsible by their shareholding plutocratic masters.