Blackface Incident -- Police and Firemen

[CrimsonTide4]

Jun 25, 2003 7:16 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) NEW YORK A federal judge has ruled that the First
Amendment rights of two firefighters and a police officer were
violated when the city fired them for riding in blackface on a parade
float in 1998.

The government ''may not prohibit the _expression of an idea simply
because a segment of society finds it offensive,'' U.S. District
Judge John E. Sprizzo said in his ruling Tuesday.

Sprizzo rejected statements by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that the
firings stemmed from concerns over civil unrest, saying he concluded
that the ''true motivation'' was Giuliani's belief that the float was
a ''disgusting display of racism.''

Kate O'Brien Ahlers, a spokeswoman for the city law office,
said, ''We will definitely be appealing this.''

Those on the Labor Day float threw watermelon and fried chicken to
paradegoers and made it appear as if one of the men in blackface was
being dragged not long after the highly publicized case of James Byrd
Jr., a black man in Texas who was dragged to his death from a pickup
truck, city officials said.

Sprizzo ruled after hearing evidence earlier this year, including
testimony from Giuliani, who said he urged the firing of the three
city employees because he feared the controversy might lead to race
riots.

At the time, Giuliani publicly declared, ''They will be fired.''

The white employees firefighters Jonathan Walters and Robert Steiner
and police officer Joseph Locurto sued the city to get their jobs
back.

They testified that they had no racist intent and that their actions
were protected by the First Amendment because the float was a parody.

The firefighters said they meant to poke fun at their predominantly
white community's racist views with the ''Black to the Future 2098''
float. They said they used stereotypes, such as the blackface and
Afro wigs, because that's the way community residents perceived
blacks.

In earlier years, floats in the parade similarly mocked Hasidic Jews,
gays and Asians.

Chris Dunn, a staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union,
said the ruling ''sends a message that city employees can't be
scapegoated to serve a mayor's political agenda and that's exactly
what happened here.''

Giuliani was listed as a defendant in the case in his role as mayor.
A call requesting comment was not immediately returned by his
spokeswoman.

Michael N. Block, a lawyer for Walters, said he and his client
were ''very pleased.''

Robert Didio, a lawyer for Steiner, said he was ''absolutely
thrilled.''

''It shows that the little guy can fight back,'' he said. ''This was
unfortunately a situation where Mr. Steiner did something foolish and
he recognizes that. But the penalty imposed by the mayor and the fire
commissioner was not consistent with the actions on the float.''