Gerri Cannon said she is not a racist even though she admitted to writing a racial slur in a social media post. That ignited a fierce Facebook firestorm, which caused her to lose her job in March as a mortgage loan services officer at the $158 million MTC Federal Credit Union in Greenville, S.C.
Many users of Facebook and other social media sites called Cannon a racist and applauded MTC for firing her. Others argued her constitutional right to free speech was violated and she should not have been fired because she posted the comment on her personal time and personal Facebook site.
Although the First Amendment prohibits the government from limiting free speech, legal and social media experts agree that, in general, the First Amendment does not apply to private employers who can fire anyone for any reason. Nevertheless, Cannon, her lawyer, and legal and social media experts said this incident provides valuable lessons such as leveraging best practices to ensure employees are educated about on the job and off the job social media policies.
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"Whether a good or bad thing, people's personal behavior online can reflect on their employer,'' Meredith Olmstead, founding partner and social media/inbound marketing consultant of Social Stairway, said. "For this reason, your employee social media policies must include some language covering this area of employee conduct."
Nevertheless, Olmstead, who helps develop social media policies along with credit union compliance officers and lawyers, said the Cannon case might prompt cooperatives to include specific information about online behavior that is not acceptable.
Cannon (pictured) and her lawyer, Ryan James of Greenville, who is African American, shared their side of the story about how one offensive word sparked a social media storm. MTC declined to comment because it is prohibited by law to publicly discuss personnel matters.
During the early evening hours of Sunday, March 20, Cannon said she was at home scrolling through her Facebook site when she read a comment on her news feed from a prominent Black Lives Matter activist and rapper Tef Poe.
"Dear white people if Trump wins young n***as such as myself are fully hell bent on inciting riots everywhere we go. Just so you know," Poe tweeted on March 16. Cannon said this tweet was posted on her Facebook newsfeed.
Cannon's response was: "N***as better watch out …. white people are sick of your racist attitude. We will not sit back and watch."
Cannon's Facebook post, along with a copy of her Facebook page and photo, was posted by Greenville resident Vannesia Taylor Bolt at 7:13 a.m. on Monday, March 21.
"Well I know where I will be this morning!! I will be at MTC FEDERAL CREDIT UNION letting that manager know THIS is how one of THEIR mortgage loan officers GERRI CANNON feels and this is how she REPRESENTS THEIR CREDIT UNION," Bolt wrote. "This woman is over if people get loans for HOMES!! Wonder how many people Gerri grouped as ("n***as") [that] she block[ed] from getting mortgage loans. I wonder how MTC thinks it looks to have this woman representing their bank in this way??? I'll find out today. You all should go and ask them about it as well if you feel inclined to! 124 Verdae Boulevard, Greenville, SC."
Cannon said the post that prompted Bolt's response was intended to let people know that others were posting ugly, dividing racist comments and that they should stop.
"We can't keep being racist, black or white," she said. "We're going to stop this division, but [the post] came out all wrong."
But Bolt is not buying Cannon's explanation.
"She typed those words. No one forced her to," Bolt said. "She typed how she felt. The words she chose reflected her true attitude, not the words her legal counsel OKs for her to use after the fact."
By 2 p.m., MTC announced on its site that Cannon had been fired and that her remarks did not reflect the cooperative's beliefs, values or policies.
By 10:30 p.m., hundreds if not thousands of people commented on Cannon's Facebook post. Gerri Cannon got nearly 60,000 searches and Gerri Cannon MTC Federal Credit Union received more than 8,200 Facebook searches.
Read more details about this social media storm in the April 6, 2016 print edition of Credit Union Times.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
