A white Chicago police officer is suing a law school, claiming the college discriminated against him because of his race.
Lieutenant John Cannon claimed the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) School of Law had damaged his reputation and limited his career chances after he made a complaint about an email from former school dean Darby Dickerson about George Floyd‘s death.
The officer of 23 years told Fox32 that he took issue with an email sent by Dickerson to students shortly after Floyd’s murder and claimed the message tied police officers with white supremacy.
Cannon told Fox32: “I was offended to a degree that is hard to articulate. I come from a long line of honorable police officers.”
The officer added that when he asked not to be sent more messages an associate dean responded and said he could “withdraw from the law school or drop out of classes” if he wished to.
He claimed the situation became worse after another law student hacked his Facebook and reposted his conservative memes onto Twitter with additional commentary.
Cannon told the network: “He [the fellow student] included fake captions on them and then shared them to Twitter pages all over the city, including the mayor, the superintendent of police.”
The lieutenant said the event has damaged his career prospects and that he is now being disciplined by his police department and is currently under investigation by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).
He told Fox32: “There’s been a lot of damage to me. One of the reasons I went to law school was because I wanted to further my career. I want to advance, either on the police department or elsewhere.”
Cannon’s attorney, Dan Herbert added: “One of our biggest goals here, the law school has to recognize that this type of behavior is so inappropriate, especially for a law school.
“It’s so inappropriate and I just hope the school recognizes that and takes action to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
On its website, the UIC Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion stated it “promotes an institutional culture of respect and empathy for all members of the law school community by fostering thought, dialogue, and active engagement around diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Newsweek has contacted the UIC School of Law, the Chicago Police Department and COPA for comment.
Following Floyd’s murder on May 25 during an arrest over suspicion he had used a fake twenty-dollar bill mass protests were sparked against police brutality in the U.S. and across the globe.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on three counts of murder and manslaughter in April 2022 and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
The wider Black Lives Matter movement led numerous organizations to address examples of what they believed were cases of white supremacy.
Scott Olson / Staff/Getty
