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Michelle Obama ‘Fluent In Ghetto’ Meme On Facebook Gets Alabama Police Officer Fired

By Heather Tooley
Published on: 15:50 PST, Nov 19, 2016

An Alabama police officer was fired from his job after posting racist memes on his Facebook page with one of them featuring Michelle Obama reading: “Fluent in Ghetto.”

The image of the first lady was side-by-side next to a photo of Melania Trump, the incoming first lady. Melania’s meme read: “Fluent in Slovenian, English, French, Serbian, and German.”

The meme drew swift backlash and ended with the officer being terminated from his job. Talladega Police Officer Joel Husk was fired on Wednesday for violating the department’s social media and code of conduct policies.

“As public employees, and especially law enforcement officers, we have a standard of excellence to uphold,” Talladega City Manager Patrick Bryant told the Washington Post.

The Michelle Obama meme is just one of many racist posts that the police officer had on his page. Bryant said the officer’s statements were “deemed to be biased or racially insensitive or derogatory.” Posts of that nature impact the community’s faith in the police department. Bryant goes on to say that when a situation like this arises, “we have to take action to correct it.”

Husk was with the Talladega Police Department for about two-and-a-half years. He posted other controversial memes and had one of President Obama with the message: “Was Dallas a terrorist attack? Yes! Carried out by Obama’s own homegrown terrorist group!”

A separate meme the Alabama police officer had contained a KKK member waving a Confederate flag. It read: “The KKK is a hate group right? Isn’t it about time we start being honest in America… and admit that #blacklivesmatter is also a hate group?”

This is the second incident in which a racist post of Michelle Obama resulted in public outcry. A West Virginia mayor resigned after her input on a Facebook post that called the first lady an “ape in heels.” Clay mayor Beverly Whaling didn’t write the insult, but agreed with Pamela Ramsey Taylor, the director of Clay County Development Corp. Whaling responded to the post by writing, “Just made my day Pam.”

A petition that more than 157,000 people signed soon followed that demanded the mayor and director be fired. Whaling resigned and Taylor is on leave, Time reports. The mayor issued a public apology after her reaction to the post, declaring that she’s not a racist person.

The Michelle Obama “Fluent in Ghetto” meme and “ape in heels” post come in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 election. It’s tantamount to the incidences of attacks and harassment against minorities that has spiked since the huge upset in which Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Some feel emboldened to express their bigotry amid a polarizing presidential transition. The 2016 race between Trump and Clinton was contentious and many are still simmering with anxiety as divisiveness in America is more prevalent than ever.

In another unprecedented development, Michelle Obama’s designer, Sophie Theallet, publicly refused to dress Melania Trump. The Inquisitr reported on an open letter that the fashion designer posted to Twitter. In the letter, Theallet admonished Donald Trump’s campaign and would turn down his wife’s request to dress her should she ask. The New York-based French designer revealed that Michelle Obama’s values aligned closely with her views on diversity. The designer continued that she isn’t preoccupied with money and the bottom line — insisting that “integrity is our only true currency.”

Theallet called on on fellow designers to do the same.

[Featured Image by Pool/Getty Images]

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