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03/28/2024 03:34:52 pm

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Angry Tweet with Racial Undertones on Ferguson Shooting May Get Texas Teacher Fired

Ferguson Shooting Protest

(Photo : Reuters / Whitney Curtits) Natasha Gray holds a placard as she gathers with other protesters across the street from the police department in Ferguson, Missouri September 26, 2014.

A female Texas teacher is set to join the ranks of unemployed because of a negative comment she posted on Twitter about the Ferguson shooting of black youth Michael Brown.

On Monday, the Duncanville Independent School District suspended without pay Duncanville High School English teacher Vinita Hegwood because of her Friday tweet that would surely ignite racial anger.

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However, the school district's Board of Trustees said at a Monday press conference that the suspension with no pay is just a prelude to discharge, which the board would pursue.

The district stressed that Hegwood's actions do not represent the district's stand on the shoot out.

On Sunday, the school district issued a statement, saying that while Hegwood has the freedom to give her personal opinion on social media, what she said was offensive. The school found the contents of her tweet reprehensible and suspending her was its way of not condoning the act.


Hegwood's tweet, which would eventually cost the English tutor her job, reads: "Who the f-k made you dumb duck a-crackers think I give a squat f-k about your opinions about my opinions Re #Ferguson? Kill yourselves."

At the height of the unrest caused by Brown's death, Hegwood was actively tweeting about the incident. However, the trouble that her Friday tweet made the teacher delete the offensive comment and shutter her Twitter account. She has remained silent since the suspension order came out, but the speculation in social media sites is that the teacher was replying to angry tweets directed at her as a result of her previous remarks about the Ferguson shooting.

On the same day that the teacher posted the tweet that would surely change her life, the White House reiterated its commitment to ease tensions resulting from the Ferguson incident with U.S. President Barack Obama discussing the matter with Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Justice Department officials.

The 18-year-old black youth was reportedly unarmed when he was shot to death by a white cop in August 2014 at a suburb in St. Louis. A county grand jury is investigating the shooting to determine probable cause on the possible indictment of Officer Darren Wilson.

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