This item popped up the other day at The Volokh Conspiracy and it’s a rather sad sign of the times. .....
On January 8, 2014, Complainant filed a formal complaint in which he alleged that the Agency subjected him to discrimination on the basis of race (African American) and in reprisal for prior EEO activity when, starting in the fall of 2013, a coworker (C1) repeatedly wore a cap to work with an insignia of the Gadsden Flag, which depicts a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me.”
Complainant stated that he found the cap to be racially offensive to African Americans because the flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden, a “slave trader & owner of slaves.” Complainant also alleged that he complained about the cap to management; however, although management assured him C1 would be told not to wear the cap, C1 continued to come to work wearing the offensive cap......
...As Volokh points out, there is no indication that the accused worker ever did or said anything to the complainant which could be construed as racially insensitive. He simply wore a cap with the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag on it. For the EEOC to even take up the case provides a signal that we have entered an era where nothing actually has to be racist to get you in trouble. All it takes is for someone else to decide that it looks racist to them. This is apparently sufficient to complete the offense in the eyes of the government. Because Gadsden (the flag’s originator) lived in a time when slave ownership was still legal and broadly practiced, that makes the flag a racist symbol centuries later. Ian Tuttle at National Review notes the flaw in this logic.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
