As I return from Raleigh-Durham, NC, I am somewhat in a quandry. Today, the Senate will take up the debate on the confirmation of Leslie Southwick, a retired Mississippi Court of Appeals judge, to determine if he will receive a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. Southwick, 57, is President Bush's choice for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.Although many democrats indicate, they will not support his confirmation, the only one that has openly stated his position is Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Obama said if the nomination reached the floor for a vote, that he would not support him. Obama is also scheduled to be in Mississippi, Southwick’s home state on Friday.
What is the big deal you ask? Well some use the decisions he made in two controversial cases. The one of interest to me centered on a white social worker who called one of her co-workers a nigger. Southwick was a part of the majority opinion that decided the use of the slur was insufficient grounds to fire the woman.
The case ( Richmond v. Mississippi Department of Human Services), Bonnie Richmond was a social worker for the department who was fired when she referred to an African American co-worker as a “good ole nigger” at a meeting with the Mississippi Department of Human Services top executives. According to the courts, Ms. Richmond’s slur “was not motivated out of racial hatred or racial animosity directed toward a particular co-worker or toward blacks in general.” So in essence if one is at work, and you are called a nigger by a white co-worker, it is legal and does not meet the grounds for dismissal from employment.
I was hoping that folks had realized that it was 2007 and not 1807 – but I guess I was wrong.
