HOUSTON, Texas — Americans across the country have been voicing strong opinions following the recent shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the subsequent protests. One woman in Houston found herself jobless for expressing her views regarding the situation in a controversial Facebook post.
On her personal Facebook page the woman wrote, “The police need to just start mowing them down with machine guns, purge them,” according to local media outlet KHOU.
One man saw the post and decided to take action because he found it “very racist.” He told KHOU, “I was highly offended.”
The man reportedly did some research, and found out that the woman was an employee at Memorial Hermann Southeast. He said, “It shouldn’t be tolerated when you’re a professional. A hospital is a place where you’re supposed to have compassion upon people of all races.”
He added that people were generally “pretty upset” about the post.
The woman’s status was apparently shared by others numerous times; Memorial Hermann Southeast quickly found out about the post and immediately laid the woman off.
On its official Twitter account, the hospital posted a message that said, “A non-nurse employee posted an offensive comment. MH absolutely disagrees with that post. We have a 107 year history of serving everyone.” A subsequent tweet said, “The individual is no longer an employee of Memorial Hermann. We cannot disclose any further information.”
The incident highlights an important point regarding the freedom of speech; while individuals may say whatever they wish, employers in Texas also have the right to fire workers at will.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate.
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