Steve Neavling
A Muslim civil rights group has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Detroit and its fire department over the actions of an EMS captain who allegedly posted nearly 200 vile, demeaning, and sometimes threatening memes and comments on social media.
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations accuses Capt. Tim Goodman of discriminating against a Muslim medic. Goodman was demoted to lieutenant in late 2017 after he posted vile comments on social media about Muslims, immigrants, African-Americans, Asians, women, and gay people.
In February, Goodman regained his rank of captain and began supervising paramedics who had complained about his discriminatory behavior.
CAIR-MI previously filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which late last year confirmed Goodman had unfairly disciplined a Muslim EMT. Records obtained by Metro Times also showed Goodman was accused in October of discriminating against a Black medic and an Asian medic.
Black medics have complained that the discrimination continued after Goodman regained his captain rank.
“No one who provides a public service to the community should be subjected to racism and Islamophobia on the job,” says CAIR-MI attorney Amy V. Doukoure. “The City holds a public trust to ensure that its citizens and workers feel safe and included no matter their faith, race, or nationality. In this case, the city and fire department have failed in their public trust by failing to take action when faced with evidence that Captain Goodman allowed his bigotry and racism to influence his workplace interactions with his subordinates.”
Before and after Goodman regained his title, medics expressed concerns with their superiors that Goodman would use his position of authority to retaliate against people whom he suspects alerted the top brass to his bigoted Facebook posts.
After the election of Donald Trump, the social media posts became more egregious. In one, he suggested “snowflake pussies” should kill themselves, and he even endorsed the slaughter of Muslims.
Here is a small sample of his Facebook posts:
• He took a photo of Black people standing in line for free cell phones at a tent. “In case you were wondering what the hell is wrong with America, I took this pic an hour ago at the corner of Greenfield and Grand River in Deeeeetroit.”
• On a story about former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers losing her job at 910AM the Superstation: “You can’t take the rat out of the hood, or can you?”
• He wrote, “Evidently now snowflake pussies are complaining that news and social media updates on their smartphones are causing them stress enough to complain to doctors. Are you actually fucking serious? Headlines causing you stress? How about you shove your smartphone up your ass? Or shut off the alerts? Or you ask the same doctor for advice on suicide, not preventing it!”
• “Why do so many Muslim men fall in love with goats? Because they have less body hair than Muslim women.”
• “I say we tell the Chinese that the Moslem Jihadi’s testicles are aphrodisiacs. In 5 year tops, they’ll be extinct.”
• A meme shows a young child holding a goat: “When your little car bomber brings home his first girlfriend.”
• A photo depicting a man who appears to be Hispanic hugging an obese white woman: “Mexicans be like, anything for papers.”
• One meme of Muslims says, “Trust me, they’re all terrorists.”
• “He needs a shank in his chest,” Goodman wrote of the man charged with shooting two Detroit police officers.
• A meme shows a female astronaut: “Because sandwiches won’t make themselves up here.”
• These words appear on a photo of a dead pig: “Rosie O’Donnell had to be removed from her home.”
• Above a photo of a young child protesting Donald Trump: “Pathetic. Good thing the little shitbag doesn’t have school tomorrow huh??”
• He calls Trump protesters “a complete and total waste of humanity” and later joked that he had plowed over demonstrators “with the front bumper of my big ass truck.”
• On a photo of a Black man wearing a shirt that reads, “They can’t deport us all,” a meme reads, “Yes we can.”
Stay on top of Detroit news and views. Sign up for our weekly issue newsletter delivered each Wednesday.
