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<\/p>\nMIAMI, FLORIDA\u00a0 \u2014 Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stephen Millan who grew up in New York is under fire for using the word \u201cmoolie\u201d to describe a black defendant and for other racially insensitive comments while in chambers.<\/p>\n
The first instance of misconduct involved Judge Millan on a break with attorneys in his chamber, where he instructed a bailiff to return to the courtroom and retrieve his wallet because he didn\u2019t \u201ctrust it in there with those thugs.\u201d \u00a0A defence attorney in the room believed the judge was referring to his client or the client\u2019s family or friends waiting in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
The second instance took place during an \u201cex parte\u201d conversation over the phone, which Judge Millan made to the same defence attorney several days after the \u201cthugs\u201d remark. During this call, he used the word \u201cmoolie\u201d to describe a black defendant. According to court officials deciding Judge Millan\u2019s ethical violations, the term \u201cmoolie\u201d is a racial Sicilian slur and shortened version of the word \u201cmulignan\u201d that literally translates as \u201ceggplant.\u201d It\u2019s used to describe black persons or individuals with a dark skin complexion.<\/p>\n
Judge Millan later admitted to using the offensive term \u201cmoolie\u201d and halfheartedly apologized, claiming it was something he said \u201cintermittently as a \u2018youngster\u2019 growing up in New York.\u201d \u00a0Judge Millan has made a living as an attorney and judge specializing in bankruptcy, immigration, and criminal defence. The New York native has Italian and Puerto Rican roots and claims to have been raised in both New York City and Long Island.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to the Miami Herald, the 52-year-old Miami judge said, \u201cIt was not unusual for my friends and I to occasionally use slur words when referring to others, including our friends and ourselves.\u201d But Florida ethics officials didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
Initially, Judge Millan agreed to undertake racial sensitivity training, but Florida\u2019s Judicial Qualifications Commission apparently didn\u2019t feel the punishment was severe enough. As such, the Commission recommended that the Miami judge face a 30-day suspension and $5,000 fine for his insensitive remarks, which were made in October 2016 while speaking one-on-one with a defendant\u2019s lawyer in the judge\u2019s chambers about scheduling.<\/p>\n
Regarding his sentencing, Judge Kristina Marx of the Florida\u2019s Judicial Qualifications Commission stated, \u201cThe use of racially derogatory and demeaning language to describe litigants, criminal defendants or members of the public, even behind closed doors or during off-the-record conversations, erodes public confidence in a fair and impartial judiciary,\u201d and that \u201c[t]he Commission is unswayed by Judge Millan\u2019s testimony that he gained familiarity with the use of certain racial slurs during his youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the above case of unethical racial bias took place in the courtroom, race and color discrimination is equally problematic in the workplace. As such, both ace and color discrimination are specifically prohibited under federal law under 42 U.S.C. \u00a7 1981, 42 U.S.C. 1983, and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as being prohibited under the Florida Civil Rights Act.<\/p>\n
If you feel like you\u2019ve been discriminated against on the basis of your race, consult with an experienced Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC attorney. Our attorneys have years of experience litigating claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, and employee\u2019s rights in the workplace. Working together with our New York City and Philadelphia attorneys, we have recovered millions on behalf of our clients who were discriminated against because of their race, color, or other protected status under Federal and state law. Let us stand up for you and your rights when it counts. If you feel you have been discriminated against, please give our attorneys a call, at 1-305-946-1884<\/strong>, for your free consultation.<\/p>\n Our Florida office is located in downtown Miami and we serve individuals and employees throughout Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, Monroe County, Orange County, in Orlando, Naples, Sarasota, Tampa, Jacksonville, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Gainesville, and locally in Miami, Miami Beach, Brickell, South Miami, Miami Lakes, North Miami, North Miami Beach, South Beach, Coral Gables, Aventura, Kendall, Doral, Hialeah, Florida Keys, Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Davie, Pembroke Pines, Plantation, Sunrise, Coral Springs, Pompano, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Bay, and, Florida.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MIAMI, FLORIDA\u00a0 \u2014 Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Stephen Millan who grew up in New York is under fire for using the word \u201cmoolie\u201d to describe a black defendant and for other racially insensitive comments while in chambers. The first instance of misconduct involved Judge Millan on a break with attorneys in his chamber, where he instructed … Continue reading “Miami Judge Uses Racial Slur to Describe Defendant Then Blames New York Childhood”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,831],"tags":[1762,1317,132,119,1763,1076,1764,1765,1084,1766,1767,32,1323,1768],"class_list":["post-4051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment-discrimination","category-race-discrimination","tag-circuit-judge","tag-color","tag-discrimination","tag-employment-law","tag-employment-lawyer","tag-florida","tag-judge-millan","tag-kelly-oconnell","tag-miami","tag-miami-herald","tag-moolie","tag-new-york-city","tag-race","tag-skin-color"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.discriminationandsexualharassmentlawyers.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}