ACLU backs lawsuit over ticket for racial slur

So reads this headline from WWL-TV.

The ACLU provides more details:

The ACLU of Louisiana enrolled in a lawsuit filed by Johnny Duncan, aka "Johnny UnBlackWorthy," a veteran and resident of Amite who was detained by police because they objected to a sign on his car reading "You Might be a Nigger!." Mr. Duncan, himself an African-American, is the author of a book of political and social commentary entitled "You Might be a Nigger!," and the sign on his car was to advertise the book.

Mr. Duncan was detained outside of an Amite restaurant, where the police told him that the sign on his car was "obscene." When he refused to remove the sign from his car, the officers followed him, detained him by the side of the road for an hour, and issued a ticket under Louisiana's obscenity law. Ultimately the charges under the ticket were rightly dismissed, because nothing on the sign qualifies under the definition of "obscene." . . .

ACLU Legal Director Katie Schwartzmann and cooperating attorney Ron Wilson have entered this case to represent Mr. Duncan. The suit, entitled "Johnny Duncan v. City of Amite, et al," is pending at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Posted by MBC at January 25, 2009 05:20 PM