A Cop Sued His Department After Finding Out He Was 18% Black And Becoming The Target Of Racist Jokes

TheGrio- A white police officer in Michigan took a genetic test through Ancestry.com in December and was surprised to learn that 18 percent of his ancestral DNA traced back to Africa. However, his colleagues in the police department and even at the city level didn’t seem to take the news of his ancestry well.

According to a suit filed on behalf of Cleon Brown, officers in the Hastings Police Department whispered “Black Lives Matter” as they passed him, and the chief referred to him as “Kunte,” after the character in Alex Haley’s novel “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.”

“There was an instance where my client was talking to the mayor, and the mayor ― upon learning that my client was 18 percent African-American ― proceeded to tell him a racist joke” using a racial slur, Brown’s attorney, Karie Boylan, told CBS Detroit.

Additionally, the Christmas tree in the office was decorated with different Santa Claus figurines, each named after the different officers on the force. The one for Brown was black, with “18%” written on the beard.

Brown has since filed a federal civil rights lawsuit for $500,000 and is also calling for better racial sensitivity training for the officers.

In responding to the suit, the City of Hastings claimed that it was Brown himself who kept bringing up his heritage and making inappropriate jokes about it, according to WOOD-TV. The officer involved in the Santa incident has apologized to Brown, and the city claims that the chief told the officers that further jokes about Brown’s heritage would not be tolerated.

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If this isn't symbolic of the luck that African Americans tend to have with the police then I don't know what the hell is. The first minority that has a legitimate opportunity to get one over on law enforcement and hold them accountable for what sounds like institutional racism isssss...82% white. Someone could finally get paid reparations for the racial profiling that is prevalent in an oft-crooked profession, and that person isssss...some dude that has never been pulled over not knowing what he did wrong. Those in positions of authority might have to pay for the n-bombs and 'Roots' references used in the office and the recipient isssss....some asshole that unquestionably found that type of discrimination hilarious until he realized he could monetize it. 

If I were a black person I would be jumping up and down screaming "it's just not fucking fair!" after reading this story. All they asked for is the indictment of one or two cops out of the handful that shot and killed unarmed African Americans so they could get a little peace of mind, and what did they get instead? Potentially a 6 figure payout to some dude who - at his blackest - could casually walk down a suburban street in the middle of the night and not automatically be deemed the lead suspect in a yet-to-be-reported crime. Casual racism is finally brought to justice, and the white man still walks away richer. Never mind the percentages and his skin color, do you know how I know this guy couldn't possibly be more caucasian? He immediately tried to extort what little blackness he did have for all it was worth.

P.S. Cleon Brown? CLEON BROWN?! That had to be a post-ancestry test name change, right?