Brittni Yocum

Edu 210
Artifact 2
Griffin is a white teacher works in a high school with the majority of students being
black. One day she had a heated discussion with two administrators. The two administrators were
African-American descent. She stated that she hated all black folks. Somehow what she had
said leaked out to the rest of her colleagues. Her colleagues, both black and white, were not very
happy with her statement. The principal, who was also one of the administrators that the
statement was said too, is suggesting dismissal. He worried that she may have poor judgement,
that she will not treat her students fairly and her overall competence as a teacher is in question.
Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the
United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws. Freedom
of speech is defined as the right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint. Based on
this definition, Ann Griffin was well within her first amendment right to say what she said. It
does not matter who you say it too or where you say it, she was legally allowed to voice her
opinion. Fortunately, for her she has tenured so she will be allowed to tell her side of the store
unlike what happened in the Perry VS Sinderman court case.
It also does not matter if the language or statement is offensive towards others. Due to the
situation that happened with Ann Griffin, she definitely could have said her statement out of
anger since they were in a heated argument. The gentlemen she made this racial statement to be
of African descent so they may have also been more offended then another person may have

been. It also seems like it was not her intention to have the rest of her colleagues, students or
parents to hear her statement.
While, Ann Griffin was speaking her opinion, it was definitely a form of hate speech.
Hate speech is speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion,
national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or other traits. This type of speech, especially when
your job is to educate children of all races, genders, etc.; is not healthy if she is allowing it to
affect her teaching style or judgement in relation to the school.
Also the fact that her statement did leak and her colleagues heard this could cause a very
uncomfortable setting for them. If the statement leaks to the students and parents, it could cause a
huge uproar and have them believe she is being racist by failing a student. So now her judgement
looks impaired no matter what she says or does. This is very similar to the Pickering vs. Board of
Education case because now everyone can hear your opinion on the matter so the judgement will
always be there. In relation to the court case, Pickering vs. Board of Education, while he made
public statements through a newspaper to purposely share his opinion unlike Ann Griffin. The
both shared opinions about certain subjects that could affect the school, the other teachers,
students and their parents.
While there are definitely pros and cons for this scenario. Even though she did not mean
for her statement to leak out, and previously have not shown in form of impaired judgment. She
did say that opinion and to administrators at that. It has yet to leak out to students and parents but
when it does everyone would have reason and the ability to question anything this teacher would
try to enforce. Definitely a difficult situation, but I believe Ann Griffin is going to lose her job
due to her unthoughtful statement.