Teh One Who Knocks
06-13-2016, 12:30 PM
Andrew Knapp - The Post and Courier
http://i.imgur.com/0Qaq0On.jpg
A former North Charleston police officer who appeared on Facebook in Confederate flag underwear says he was fired because he’s white.
Sgt. Shannon Dildine posted the photograph of himself five days after Dylann Roof fatally shot nine black worshippers at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.
In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Dildine said he was aware of a debate about the Confederate battle flag flying outside the Statehouse. To him, the banner represented defiance of big government. But he did not know, he said, that Roof used it as a symbol of white supremacy or hatred of black people.
City officials fired the officer within days, saying the image was inflammatory and showed poor judgment.
Dildine compared the photo with a picture taken a week earlier of the city’s black assistant police chief, Reggie Burgess, posing with members of the Black Lives Matter activist group. That Dildine was fired and the assistant chief was not is evidence of discrimination, he contended in the suit.
Citing humiliation and post-traumatic stress disorder, he asked for unspecified monetary damages.
“We have two claims: freedom of speech and race discrimination,” his attorney, Chris Potts of Charleston, said. “He was fired for expressing his First Amendment rights. ... And a white officer who does something is treated more harshly than a minority officer who does something.”
North Charleston officials stand by their decision. Mayor Keith Summey said in a recent interview that “it broke our hearts” to fire Dildine. “But it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Officials were concerned that Dildine’s display would undermine public confidence in the North Charleston Police Department, city attorney Derk Van Raalte added Thursday. The lawyer rejected the comparison between the photos of Dildine and Burgess, calling the two “incongruous.”
“Our employees are our ambassadors. The photograph depicts Reggie Burgess fulfilling that role perfectly,” he said. “Burgess’ clothing and demeanor ... reveal absolutely nothing other than him acting in a courteous and even-handed manner.”
Dildine’s Facebook post came at racially sensitive time for the Charleston area and the police force.
More than two months earlier, a fellow white officer, Michael Slager, fatally shot Walter Scott, a black man. A bystander captured the shooting on a video that became a lasting image in a nationwide examination of police force used against black people. Civil rights groups such as Black Lives Matter protested.
Then on June 17, Roof targeted the church after officials said he posted racist beliefs online, along with photos of himself with a Confederate flag. That ignited the discussion about whether the banner should continue flying on Statehouse grounds. It eventually was taken down.
Meanwhile, Dildine, an 18-year veteran of a policing job he called his “entire world,” was on a mountain vacation, he said in the lawsuit. He heard about the mass killing and the heated flag debate but was “unaware” of the pictures showing Roof and the banner, he said.
On June 22, he posted the picture of himself in nothing but boxer shorts that resembled the flag. He wanted “to (defuse) a debate that two of his Facebook friends were having,” his suit stated. It was published, he said, without comment or mention of the Police Department.
“Being born and raised in the Southern United States, (Dildine) did not believe the Confederate flag was a symbol of hate,” the filing explained. “Instead, he believed it symbolized opposition to bigger or intrusive government.”
When a police supervisor inquired about the photo the next day, he deleted it. He soon met with city and police officials, including Burgess. Summey’s special assistant, Julie Elmore, told him that the mayor was concerned with how the issue would be portrayed in the news media, the suit stated.
That’s when talk of the Burgess photo came up. Burgess had posed in a business suit about a week earlier with Black Lives Matter leaders. Summey and Burgess later made the decision to fire Dildine, the suit stated, but Burgess was not disciplined.
Dildine’s lawsuit cites various laws, including state provisions barring employees’ termination for expressing political beliefs. His bias claim, which faults the city for not firing black employees who displayed allegedly similar conduct, is rooted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Dildine exhausted all attempts to keep the job that he “took great pride in,” the suit stated. He then filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a procedural step that allowed him to sue.
Local activists continue to back the city’s handling of the ordeal. Ed Bryant, president of the NAACP chapter in North Charleston, said he was perplexed because Dildine’s suit equated the Confederate flag to Black Lives Matter, which “isn’t a hate group and never has been.”
“If you want to be a police officer,” Bryant said, “just keep your pants on.”
http://i.imgur.com/0Qaq0On.jpg
A former North Charleston police officer who appeared on Facebook in Confederate flag underwear says he was fired because he’s white.
Sgt. Shannon Dildine posted the photograph of himself five days after Dylann Roof fatally shot nine black worshippers at Charleston’s Emanuel AME Church.
In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Dildine said he was aware of a debate about the Confederate battle flag flying outside the Statehouse. To him, the banner represented defiance of big government. But he did not know, he said, that Roof used it as a symbol of white supremacy or hatred of black people.
City officials fired the officer within days, saying the image was inflammatory and showed poor judgment.
Dildine compared the photo with a picture taken a week earlier of the city’s black assistant police chief, Reggie Burgess, posing with members of the Black Lives Matter activist group. That Dildine was fired and the assistant chief was not is evidence of discrimination, he contended in the suit.
Citing humiliation and post-traumatic stress disorder, he asked for unspecified monetary damages.
“We have two claims: freedom of speech and race discrimination,” his attorney, Chris Potts of Charleston, said. “He was fired for expressing his First Amendment rights. ... And a white officer who does something is treated more harshly than a minority officer who does something.”
North Charleston officials stand by their decision. Mayor Keith Summey said in a recent interview that “it broke our hearts” to fire Dildine. “But it was the right thing to do,” he said.
Officials were concerned that Dildine’s display would undermine public confidence in the North Charleston Police Department, city attorney Derk Van Raalte added Thursday. The lawyer rejected the comparison between the photos of Dildine and Burgess, calling the two “incongruous.”
“Our employees are our ambassadors. The photograph depicts Reggie Burgess fulfilling that role perfectly,” he said. “Burgess’ clothing and demeanor ... reveal absolutely nothing other than him acting in a courteous and even-handed manner.”
Dildine’s Facebook post came at racially sensitive time for the Charleston area and the police force.
More than two months earlier, a fellow white officer, Michael Slager, fatally shot Walter Scott, a black man. A bystander captured the shooting on a video that became a lasting image in a nationwide examination of police force used against black people. Civil rights groups such as Black Lives Matter protested.
Then on June 17, Roof targeted the church after officials said he posted racist beliefs online, along with photos of himself with a Confederate flag. That ignited the discussion about whether the banner should continue flying on Statehouse grounds. It eventually was taken down.
Meanwhile, Dildine, an 18-year veteran of a policing job he called his “entire world,” was on a mountain vacation, he said in the lawsuit. He heard about the mass killing and the heated flag debate but was “unaware” of the pictures showing Roof and the banner, he said.
On June 22, he posted the picture of himself in nothing but boxer shorts that resembled the flag. He wanted “to (defuse) a debate that two of his Facebook friends were having,” his suit stated. It was published, he said, without comment or mention of the Police Department.
“Being born and raised in the Southern United States, (Dildine) did not believe the Confederate flag was a symbol of hate,” the filing explained. “Instead, he believed it symbolized opposition to bigger or intrusive government.”
When a police supervisor inquired about the photo the next day, he deleted it. He soon met with city and police officials, including Burgess. Summey’s special assistant, Julie Elmore, told him that the mayor was concerned with how the issue would be portrayed in the news media, the suit stated.
That’s when talk of the Burgess photo came up. Burgess had posed in a business suit about a week earlier with Black Lives Matter leaders. Summey and Burgess later made the decision to fire Dildine, the suit stated, but Burgess was not disciplined.
Dildine’s lawsuit cites various laws, including state provisions barring employees’ termination for expressing political beliefs. His bias claim, which faults the city for not firing black employees who displayed allegedly similar conduct, is rooted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Dildine exhausted all attempts to keep the job that he “took great pride in,” the suit stated. He then filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a procedural step that allowed him to sue.
Local activists continue to back the city’s handling of the ordeal. Ed Bryant, president of the NAACP chapter in North Charleston, said he was perplexed because Dildine’s suit equated the Confederate flag to Black Lives Matter, which “isn’t a hate group and never has been.”
“If you want to be a police officer,” Bryant said, “just keep your pants on.”