In Orange, Texas last week, a parole officer filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice alleging that he had endured, over the prior thirteen years, more than enough racism, and the camel’s proverbial back had been broken:

Freddie Hackney Jr. endured a lot of racial and religious prejudices over the 13 years as a parole officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice before he stood up for himself.
Hackney, 43, filed a lawsuit in February with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Beaumont Division. The suit is against not only TDCJ, but also his former supervisor James Gossett Jr.
Hackney continues to work as a parole officer, but Gossett was reportedly given an ultimatum to resign or be fired and he has since resigned from his job and is now working at a local restaurant.
“I cannot continue to be abused for being born. I will not apologize for being the man God made me. I can no longer continue to be TDCJ’s ‘whipping boy,’” said Hackney in a written statement.
Hackney lost his faith in internal investigations shortly after starting his job. He came into work one morning and found the words “nigger you talk you die” spray painted in large letters on his wall. Everyone in the office was forced to work at alternate location during an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In the weeks prior to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, Hackney submitted a request in writing to be allowed to take the day off in lieu of another traditional holiday. Gossett advised Hackney he had used the wrong form for his request.
Hackney then submitted a second request to be able to observe in his religious freedoms. However, Gossett refused to sign and approve the requests, according to the petition filed with the court.
However, the petition states two other co-workers were allowed to take off from work to observe Ash Wednesday, a Catholic holiday.

Analysis of the story shows: what Mr. Hackney received at the hands of his co-workers were largely racist in nature, calling him a “gorilla”, “nigger” on the wall, etc. And, might I add, indicative of a brain activity level one usually finds only in the demographic for adult diapers. Mr. Gossett’s crime vis-a-vis the racism was largely a crime of omission. Mr. Gossett’s crime of commission was anti-Semitic in nature, the active denial of equal accommodations for religious sensibilities.
The combination of these two facts makes my heart go out to Mr. Hackney even more. To turn to an authority in the face of racism is quite a hard thing to do — especially when the EEOC, with all of their high-falutin’ official paperwork and pomp, gets called in to investigate a warning of “talk and you die.” But then to find that authority to be anti-Semitic, only to be sent back into the sea of racists?
I think that this coming Passover, considering that Mr. Hackney has only recently become free of his unsafe working environment, for Mr. Hackney to “see himself as if he was just released…from the house of bondage” should prove itself to be an easy mental endeavor. The torture of receiving abuse for two different reasons from two different groups of people at one workplace, I’m sure, was Mr. Hackney’s personal “egypt” this year from which he prayed for redemption. It is also my sincere hope that Mr. Hackney’s case draws attention to the precarious situations of other Jews of color going through similar trials.
And to top it off, Mr. Hackney is not seeking punitive damages, only a public admission that he had been wronged. What a mensch.