A federal judge in Pennsylvania has agreed to allow a white television news anchor fired for using the word “nigger” in a June 2007 newsroom meeting to proceed with his lawsuit against his former employer, WTXF Fox 29.

 

Tom Burlington claims he was a victim of reverse discrimination, in being terminated for asking whether it was okay to use “nigger” on the air in a story about the NAACP in Philadelphia holding a symbolic burial for the word. His co-anchor, Joyce Evans, who is African-American, confronted Burlington after the meeting, allegedly telling him he was being insensitive about trying to use the n-word. Evans was not actually present at the meeting.

 

Burlington again used the word at a meeting with management to describe what happened during the newsroom discussion. He was then suspended, and fired three days later.

 

The case has the potential to be a controversial one because it touches on the issue of why it is acceptable for black people say “nigger”, but not acceptable for white people to use the same word.

 

Judge R. Barclay Surrick said, “When viewed in its historical context, one can see how people in general, and African Americans in particular, might react differently when a white person uses the word than if an African American uses it. Nevertheless, we are unable to conclude that this is a justifiable reason for permitting the Station to draw race-based distinctions between employees.”

 

An African-American employee, John Jervay, used the word “nigger” three times in an email to management describing what Burlington had done. Because Jervay was not disciplined, Surrick ruled that a jury could reasonably conclude that WTXF’s management had engaged in race-based discrimination.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Newsman Fired Over 'N-word' Can Sue for Reverse Bias (by Matthew Heller, On Point)

Thomas Burlington v. News Corporation (U.S. District Court, Eastern Pennsylvania) (pdf)