Racist Internet Post Leads to Civil Rights Beef

By CAMERON LANGFORD

Law • April 2014 • Views: 1,012

A former school secretary who posted a racist comment about President Obama on Facebook sued the school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights by firing him for the post.

Abel Gonzalez sued the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District in Federal Court.

Harlingen, pop. 65,000, is 14 miles from the U.S.-Mexico.

“On Saturday, August 25, 2012 at 9:08 a.m., plaintiff was at home on his own personal computer, when plaintiff received an e-mail from the Huffington Post’s Facebook page,” the complaint states. “The Facebook page had a picture of a little girl chasing President Obama in the Oval Office and beneath the picture were the words, ‘Caption this.’ Plaintiff wrote ‘Run Nigger Run.’”

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3 comments

KerFuFFler Apr 11, 2014 6:05:37am

When will these idiots come to understand that first amendment rights do not guarantee that there will no repercussions for speech? He cannot be arrested for speaking his mind———unless he is calling for violence directly or revealing classified information…. But anyone can get fired for patently offensive speech, especially when it undermines the mission of the organization. Using the N word publicly deserves to be a firing offence for anyone working in a public school.

CuriousLurker Apr 11, 2014 6:55:35am

re: #1 KerFuFFler

When will these idiots come to understand that first amendment rights do not guarantee that there will no repercussions for speech? He cannot be arrested for speaking his mind———unless he is calling for violence directly or revealing classified information…. But anyone can get fired for patently offensive speech, especially when it undermines the mission of the organization. Using the N word publicly deserves to be a firing offence for anyone working in a public school.

THIS. It’s not like he worked in a bakery or a deli or even a private school or whatever where people could just say, “Okay, we’re not going to do business with them anymore.” If you’re commenting at FB or at any online public forum using your real identity, you’re an idiot if you think you can use racist epithets and not have it blow back on you.

Wouldn’t the school risk liability by keeping him on after being made aware of his comment, possibly opening them up to future lawsuits?

IMO, it would be a different matter if he’d taken at least the basic precaution of posting using an anonymous identity not connected to his job, and then gotten doxed and subsequently fired.