Fired for using the n word

A black police officer was reinstated to his job, nearly six months after he was fired for using the n-word on duty and defending it as expressing ‘culture and experiences among the African American community.’

Delvin White returned to duty Tuesday, after Tampa’s Civil Service Board decided that Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan’s decision to fire him went too far, the Tampa Bay Times reported.  

While the board agreed Dugan, who is white, was within his right to fire White — a beloved resource officer at Middleton High School — it voted 3 to 0 to reinstate the officer, effective immediately.  

‘I do not want to see the city lose an employee like that who obviously does his job above and beyond—a difficult job in, let’s face it, very difficult circumstances,’ a board member told the Tampa Bay Times. ‘It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.’ 

White was fired in March, after a random audit of his bodycam captured him using the N-word multiple times in November 2020.

He was fired for ‘violations of policy that prohibit discriminatory conduct’, according to a disposition letter released by the Tampa Police Department. 

Ahead of Monday’s vote, Dugan said his initial decision to fire White had nothing to do with the word itself, but that White used the word around a minor.

‘This isn’t about racism, this is about professionalism,’ Dugan said, according to the Times. ‘Officer White isn’t playing golf with his frat brothers, he’s not playing poker, he’s wearing the uniform of a Tampa Police Department officer and speaking to a student that way.’

At the time, White told his supervisor he did not mean for the word to be derogatory, police said. 

He added that he was using the word as it is ‘commonly used in today’s society as a means of shared culture and experiences among the African American community’.

White was recorded using both the slur and the word ‘ghetto’ to reference a group of people while on the phone driving home from an off-duty, work-related assignment November 13, the letter said. 

He later used it again while talking on the phone with his wife.

Camera footage also captured White using the word twice while arresting a student November 30, when the student disobeyed White’s orders to put his hands behind his back for handcuffing,  

‘Man, make me, bro. You trippin’, ‘ the student says in the bodycam footage. 

‘I told you, n*****, we ain’t playing games with your ass,’ White responds.

‘You trippin’,’ the student repiles.

‘N*****, you trippin’,’ White responds.

‘You don’t know what a n***** be going through,’ the student responds before getting into the patrol vehicle.     

Tampa police Chief Brian Dugan said in a statement: ‘Derogatory statements made by police officers jeopardize the trust that our department works to establish with our community.’

‘Tampa Police officers are held to a higher standard and incidents like this negatively impact the entire law enforcement profession.’   

White’s supporters, many of whom include Middleton students and staff, agreed the officer should have been sanctioned for his behavior.

But they saw his firing, ending the career of a beloved black officer at a school where the majority of students are black, as unfair.   

During Monday’s hearing, Kristina Ravenel, a former Middleton teacher, said the officer went above and beyond to mentor students, launching programs to make the campus cleaner and safer.

‘He understood where they came from and tried his best to help them understand that they don’t need to be a product of their environment,’ said Ravenel.

Marlon Anderson, a high school security guard in Madison, Wis., who was fired for using the n-word when telling a student not to use it, will get his job back.

“I’m back!” Anderson posted on Facebook Monday evening. “While at work today at Boys & Girls Clubs, I learned from the Madison Teachers Union President that School Supt. Jane Belmore has rescinded the decision of my termination… Thank you to the 1,000 plus students for allowing your voices to be heard and to all the people from across the globe for reaching out to my family… Now we have to address the policy!”

A statement from the Madison Teacher Inc. (MTI), the union that represents teachers and other district employees, said in a statement that Anderson “will be returned to pay status immediately, including full benefits,” and “The district will continue Mr. Anderson on paid leave while a transition plan is finalized to return him to work.”

“MTI is pleased to see the district rescind the termination of Marlon Anderson, paving the way for him to return to the incredible work he does with Madison’s students. We now look forward to working with the District to review and address its zero tolerance policy”, said MTI Executive Director Doug Keillor, in a statement.

Forty-eight-year-old Anderson said he used the racial slur on Oct. 9 when responding to a student who called him a number of obscenities, including the n-word, and tried to explain to the student why the term was offensive. The Madison School District has a zero-tolerance policy on employees using racial slurs, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

“I just don’t understand getting fired for trying to defend yourself,” Anderson had said in an interview with the Journal. “As a black man, I have a right not to be called that word.” Anderson told the Journal that he told the student multiple times “do not call me that,” “do not call me that word,” and “do not call me a N-word,” using the slur during the confrontation.

He was fired for using the word a week later. Anderson posted about his firing on Oct. 16.

Anderson’s story soon gained traction online, drawing outrage from members of the Madison community and even prominent politicians like the singer Cher. Students held a walk out protest in support of Anderson last week. More than 15,000 people have signed a Change.com petition in support of Anderson and a GoFundMe raised $12,483 to support him and his family.

On Oct. 21, Madison Teacher’s Inc. filed a grievance with the school district over Anderson’s firing.

Shortly before the decision to rescind Anderson’s firing was announced, School Board President Gloria Reyes said in a statement that she requested the superintendent rescind the firing.

“I have requested that the superintendent review the current situation regarding the use of racial slurs in school and rescind the termination,” she said in the statement. “Going forward, we will review our practice and we remain dedicated to protecting our students and staff from harm by implementing practices that are reflective of the humanity involved. We will grapple with complexity and assess it through a lens of deep racial equity.”

In a statement, Belmore said, “I want to be very clear that as we go forward, we will keep students at the center. Our commitment to anti-racism and to use the input from community, especially our students is unwavering. I look forward to continued conversations on how to support our students and our staff. Thank you for your commitment to the deep work on equity which is the right work for us.”

Write to Madeleine Carlisle at madeleine.carlisle@time.com.

A black former employee at a high school in Wisconsin is arguing that context is everything after he was fired for using the N-word to stop an unruly student from calling him the racist epithet.

Marlon Anderson had worked for three years as a security guard at West High School in Madison, and in the school district for 11 years. Tempers frayed during a confrontation with a student whom he was trying to calm and get to leave the school.

Anderson said that the student started to curse at him and used the N-word repeatedly. To emphasize how unacceptable this was, Anderson used the word in response.

He said «Don’t call me that, don’t call me the n-word, and don’t call me n*****,» using the word.

Anderson told the Wisconsin State Journal that he had been set up by the assistant principal who held up her radio to his face during the altercation for other staff to hear.

The Madison Metropolitan School District [MMSD] fired Anderson, citing a zero-tolerance policy of staff using the word, following a number of recent incidents in which racial slurs had been said.

West High Principal Karen Boran informed parents by email that «regardless of context or circumstance, racial slurs are not acceptable in our schools.»

But in an interview with TV station Channel 3000, Anderson said he had been unfairly targeted and was trying to make a point to the student.

«I want the zero-tolerance policy to be looked at. It’s lazy,» he said. «My mother was called this word. My father was called this word, my grandmother, my grandfather and keep going down the family line.

«We were all called this word, and not one of them could say, ‘Don’t call me that.’ I can. And I shouldn’t be punished, because I have the right to tell somebody not to call me this word,» he said.

«I made a conscious decision to address the word because it is an epidemic, our kids use it every day.»

«You have no tolerance for a word, but yet you let students call me that word 15 times without correcting that behavior,» he added.

The union Madison Teachers Inc. is fighting the dismissal. In a statement, the union said: «We hope the school board will modify their action earlier and get him back to work,» according to WKOW.

Meanwhile a petition on Change.org has been launched calling for Anderson to get his job back.

«Marlon made West a better place and most importantly made it bearable and we aren’t gonna let them falsely fire him like this,» the petition read.

Anderson has also received a lot of support on social media.

One posted on his Facebook page: «Your brothers and sisters from all walks of life are marching to show our love. It’s the least we can do for all you’ve done for us.»

Another wrote: «You made a decision a 100% right decision that should have never had you termination of employment as the result.»

It appears that the growing controversy has sparked a reassessment of the case. The state’s board of education president Gloria Reyes said in a statement that she acknowledged «the emotion, harm and complexity involved.

«We have also heard from the community about the complexity involved – and our duty to examine it. As a board, we plan to review our approach, the underlying policies, and examine them with a racial equity lens understanding that universal policies can often deepen inequities,» the statement said, according to WKOW.

A Dillard’s clerk in Dallas has been fired for his alleged use of the N-word in a video that has since gone viral.

After an Instagram user posted the video online last week (July 25), she claimed the department store attempted to have the video removed. Furthermore, she mentioned the only reason for recording the conversation was due to an employee hurling a racial slur at her cousin.

“Unfortunately, a 10-year-old male was exposed to how cruel this world can be towards him BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN,” Aisha wrote in the caption. “But his father showed him the right way to handle the situation, gracefully.”

In the video, the Black customer calmly told the white man, who called him out of his name, that his actions were “unacceptable.”

A racist employee at a Dillard’s in Dallas calls a father the n-word before being confronted by him in a very graceful way pic.twitter.com/W4mo6ygOio

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) July 29, 2022

“You disrespected me… and my family,” said the father who had been shopping in Dillard’s alongside his son. “But I would never do that to your family or even you… I would never treat anybody that way. But I want you to know man to man, that shit’s not cool… Treat human beings with respect, and morals, and values.”

After a Facebook user questioned if the store would allow the employee to get away with the comments on an advertisement for new handbags, the company issued a statement with an update on the white man’s employment status.

“The allegations made against our former employee were promptly investigated, found to be in clear violation of our standards, and his employment with Dillard’s was immediately terminated,” said the company in response to the comment.

At one point in the clip, the man questioned if the employee knew the impact his words would have on his young son.

“I carry myself with honor,” said the father. “I would never disrespect any human being by calling them outside of their name. You don’t know the impact of what you’ve done to my son. But maybe you were unaware.”

Being a professional eSports player isn’t just fun and games. You have to train so hard you can seriously mess up your wrists, and the working conditions aren’t always fair. But as far as jobs go, being a professional Overwatch player is a pretty good gig because you get to do what you love.

It’s a highly competitive field where players in their mid-20s are considered old timers, so you’d think they’d avoid easily avoidable, career-ending gaffes. That was not the case for Matt «Dellor» Vaughn, who was dropped from his Overwatch team Toronto eSports for hurling racial slurs during a match that was streamed on Twitch.

Specifically, he screamed the n-word about 60 times in a row, as you can see in the video below. Warning, the video is obviously extremely offensive:

«Toronto Esports is an organization built on inclusivity, and we have always had a zero-tolerance policy for any forms of discrimination.» Toronto eSports President Ryan Pallett said in a statement. «Immediately upon learning of the incident, the player was interviewed, admitted to the offence, and was notified that his contract with the organization was being terminated»

For what it’s worth, Vaughn also posted a sincere apology on Twitter:

«I fucked up and deserve to be dropped from Toronto Esports, I won’t try to argue or make an excuse, I don’t have any,» he said. Vaughn went on to explain that he «was having a really bad day» and didn’t get much sleep. Then he got into a match with a Widowmaker player who he thought was cheating and he snapped. «The only thing I can say is that despite me using that word, I am not a racist. I was extremely upset, and I was trying to make the person I was angry with upset as well, and so I said the most offensive thing that came to mind.»

Which, okay. I can understand how a video game could make someone snap, though I don’t default to racist slurs when I’m cussing and mad, and I’m basically cussing and mad all day.

At least it’s an apology, and at least Toronto eSports did the right thing by dropping him immediately. Aside from sore wrists and unfair contracts, another big problem in eSports and gaming in general is racism, so a zero-tolerance policy for any form of discrimination is more than fair.

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