Posted on 05/10/2017 12:56:17 PM PDT by Gamecock
Sgt. Cleon Brown was shocked to find out he could trace 18 percent of his DNA to regions of Africa. He said he was further shocked by his bosss and coworkers response to those results, and now hes suing over it.
Brown, who has worked at the Hastings Police Department in Michigan since 1998, took a genetic test with Ancestry.com last year that revealed the officer, who looks white, is 18 percent African. In the fall, Brown said he proudly told his fellow officers about that fact, according to a federal lawsuit, though city officials disagree with that characterization and say Brown joked about the results from the beginning.
Sgt. Brown, in a very joking and jovial manner, informed several of his fellow officers that he had recently taken a DNA test through Ancestry.com and the results showed that he was 18 percent African American, city officials said to Michigan Live.
Since then, Brown said his boss and fellow officers started taunting him about his race. The lawsuit alleges that Chief Jeff Pratt called Brown Kunta, an enslaved character in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by American author Alex Haley.
Brown also described incidents when officers would pump their fists and say black lives matter, when he walked past them, and the former mayor after hearing about his DNA results telling him and another officer a racist joke that included an offensive term for black people.
The statement by the city said Brown repeatedly brought up the fact he was African in mutual bantering with officers and he would engage in typical racial stereotypes, according to Michigan Live.
After a month or so of Brown originally bringing it up, even that ended, the city said. Browns attorney denies he ever joked about his heritage, according to CBS Detroit.
Another incident described in the lawsuit alleges an officer placed a black Santa figurine in Browns department Christmas stocking in December, with 18% written on its beard. The city said the officer who did it apologized to Brown after he heard Brown was offended by it, and Brown emphatically denied that he ever complained about it or that he was upset or offended by it and he even seemed confused that the issue was being raised.
Brown filed a complaint in January with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to the lawsuit. He said he started experiencing hostile, retaliatory behavior from the chief and his fellow officers, including Pratt asking him to resign his sergeant position and return to the position of patrol officer.
While Brown said he is part of a protected class due to his African heritage, the city said thats uncertain under civil rights laws. Racial discrimination laws are not designed to protect those who can demonstrate some trace amount of a particular race or geographic origin, the city said, according to Michigan Live.
Brown is seeking financial damages, saying in the lawsuit the stress has affected his health, and his attorney told CBS Detroit she hopes the accused officials will resign.
I personally wonder if they don’t just throw in some extra crap so people have something to talk about . . .
Ancestry does not say you are “African”. They designate what area of Africa your DNA matches, such as Mali or Kenya.
That, and a devious way of preying on people's curiosity to extract their genetic data from them. What wouldn't insurance companies and the government do to get a hold of that information?
“Personally I think that alleged DNA testing by Ancestry.com is a money making scam........”
It is a scam , but not just to make money. What betterway to collect DNA for a “future”l criminal” DNA database?
Is Ancestry.com run by the Mormon church or connected to Mormonism?
If there’s money in it for him.. smh
My mother’s maiden name was Black.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner!
That’s vague. I mean Israelis are from Africa....
Maybe hes part North African....
************
That’s generally lumped in as Mediterranean ... Egyptian and Phoneceans were white people with blue eyes...
With a name like Cleon, if you’re not an ancient Athenian, what else would you be?
I’m 99.4% European ,,, the most accurate tests are done by 23andme.com ,, they follow or document better procedures so their tests are admissable in court ,, other tests are not... but I believe they are just as accurate..
I’m 100% behind this guy... I was hoping for a percentage of African solely so I could bust the local government about minority set asides in contracts ... I don’t like being litigious but that’s the world we live in ,, we need to make the lefties live their arguments ,, “just one drop!” gets me the benefits... unfortunately didn’t happen for me ... but we need to make this the joke that it is... force them to treat ALL people equally.
If I was on the Jury, I would award him $10 to get some cheese and kleenex.
Oh I can be quite litigious.
Degrees of Seinfeld:
The actor who played Neidermeyer also played Seunfeld's Bob Cobb, who liked to be called "Maestro." The above quote came from the episode titled "The Maestro."
I’m thinking about swabbing my cheek ... cause I just need proof that I’m Black and Native American ...
COOL!
(Native American alone saves me Fishing and Hunting License and then there are those pesky Hunting/Fishing Seasons)
I dated a Native (well actually 2 of em) and had good times on the Res ... then we went to Canada and had more fun ...
I’m thinking I need that DNA report asap, I’m not getting any younger.
it didnt take him long to figure out how to get money from the system.
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