Cicero School Board Member In Hot Water Over Racially-Charged Facebook Post
CICERO, Ill. (CBS) -- A member of the J. Sterling Morton High School District school board in the near western suburbs may be forced to resign.
As WBBM Newsradio's Bob Conway reports, Cicero-based school board Michael Iniquez is under fire for posts appearing on his Facebook page, at least one of which contained a racist term.
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The Chicago Sun-Times reported a post appeared on Iniquez's facebook wall reading, "IT'S FRIDAY NI**A'S," with a picture of "a nearly naked black child dancing."
Following a report by the Sun-Times on the posting, the parents' group Berwyn CARES issued a statement expressing outrage, and its president said if the allegations against Iniquez are true, he should not be on the school board, the newspaper reported.
The group has stopped short of calling for Iniquez's resignation, since an internal investigation is underway at the Town of Cicero, where he works as head of rodent control, the Sun-Times reported.
Iniquez blamed the posts on his 15-year-old son, but conceded that he was responsible for other posts in which he wrote about getting drunk at a Cubs game, and compared U.S. Cellular Field to a "ghetto," the newspaper reported.
Berwyn Ald. Marge Paul called told the Sun-Times' Steve Warmbir that Iniquez should resign, and that his actions further erode parent confidence in District 201.
Racist or racially-charged Facebook posts have made headlines multiple times in the Chicago area the recent months for getting people into trouble.
Apparently encouraged by others who clicked "like" on her Facebook posting, she went on, writing at one point: "send them all somewhere i don't care where. they make everything dirty ignorant . . . f***ing n*****s."
The posts were picked up by the blog 312DiningDiva.com, which named the bartender and included her Facebook profile picture as it advised readers to "prepare to get ill."
The bartender was fired virtually on the spot.
Jon Kelly first stepped down as president of the Westside Baseball League of Oak Lawn, and later resigned altogether, after it was made public that he wrote, "I'm so sick of this dumb, stupid n****r Whitney Houston" on Facebook.
Kelly never denied writing the post, but said he didn't realize he had put it online. He posted the comment to his personal Facebook page, saying he was tired of hearing media coverage of Houston's death, and resented the fact that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered flags flown at half-staff for her, the SouthtownStar reported in February.
Kelly was initially just suspended by the baseball league and was banned from coaching for a year, but he later quit the league's board.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
