One Bank of America worker is out of a job this morning. Christine McMullen Lindgren, who worked at a branch in Atlanta Georgia, was recently fired from the financial institution for sharing a racist post on Facebook.
The trouble for Lindgren, 57, began with her racist rant where she spoke so vilely of Black people, thousands of customers contacted the bank to complain, leading to her firing.
Using incorrect grammar and broken English, Lindgren typed in a now deleted post, “f***ing n*****s’ should ‘go back to Africa … I hate Facebook for this reason you f***ing n****rs. And yes, if [you] can call each that well I can too … F***ing n****r go back to Africa. Get over your pity party. You created this hatred and your own kind that brought your great-great-parents [sic] over here and sold them … Do something with your lives and your children’s lives. I’m sure you don’t work, collect welfare and teach hatred … Your poor children. All five of them you can’t afford because I pay for them.”
While no one knows at whom she was directing the vitriolic post, one reader who noticed her place of work made the wise decision to contact Bank of America and complain.
Hours and many more calls later, BOFA shared in their own Facebook post, “We are aware of an unacceptable post on Facebook,’ Bank of America wrote on its Facebook page … The comments are reprehensible. We have completed our investigation and have terminated the employment of the individual who posted the comments.” Further, a senior vice president at Bank of America, Andy Aldridge, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “We have investigated the matter and terminated her. She no longer works for Bank of America,” adding that the former employee’s comments were “reprehensible and unacceptable.”
Lindgren deleted her Facebook profile, but the stinging words won’t soon be forgotten. While most Black people in the South who encounter the likes of Lindgren daily aren’t surprised, her post shocked many Americans. Still, some people are speaking out in support of Lindgren, invoking her First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Should Lindgren have been fired?
