New Haven lieutenant suspended over racial slur in Facebook post
For the latest SMACSS (Social Media Assisted Career Suicide Syndrome) we turn to New Haven, Connecticut and fire department lieutenant who is in the news for a recent Facebook post.
A New Haven fire lieutenant has been suspended without pay for the entire month of September following racist remarks found posted through his Facebook page. The comments touched a very personal nerve with New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
“I am a person that has been called that name in elementary and high school, and I’ll tell you it’s very demoralizing and hurtful,” Harp said Tuesday afternoon. “My people helped to build this country on slave labor. I am enraged by this comment, but we’ve got to go through a process.”
The post with the racial slur showed up under the name of Kevin Owens, who has been identified as a veteran lieutenant with the New Haven Fire Department.
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Paul Bass, New Haven Independent:
The spark for the suspension was a comment posted to the Facebook page of an anti-immigrant group called “English and Proud.” “Wake Up England! Chased by Muslims with machetes—South Yorkshire police don’t want to know!” the group’s Facebook item read.
In screen shot of the page that began circulating among members of the department, and then city officials, beginning noon Monday, a comment appears in the name of a New Haven firefighter. It shows the picture from his Facebook page. The comment reads: “In the U.S. we call them niggers.”
