Court Opinion

ID: 9497040
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:42:09.617722+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:58.368065
License: Public Domain

JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The court today acknowledges the teaching of the Supreme Court that “the burning of a cross is a symbol of hate,” and “when a cross burning is used to intimidate, few if any messages are more powerful.” Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 123 S.Ct. 1536, 1546, 1547, 155 L.Ed.2d 535 (2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). It then, astoundingly, concludes that the burning cross graffiti, coupled with appellant’s initials,2 were not sufficient to create a fact issue for jury consideration.
I differ with the court’s holding for two reasons.
First, the question of whether the note “H. J. slept here” is connected to the KKK and burning cross graffiti is a question of *799fact.3 In reviewing a motion for summary judgment, we must view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, rather than choosing among various possible reasonable inferences. “Credibility determinations, the weighing of the evidence, and the drawing of legitimate inferences from the facts are jury functions, not those of a judge, whether he is ruling on a motion for summary judgment or for a directed verdict.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) (emphasis added); see also Kenney v. Swift Transp., Inc., 347 F.3d 1041, 1044 (8th Cir.2003) (nonmovant entitled to all reasonable inferences). The court today discards two reasonable inferences — that the cross and the words were drawn by the same hand or else by different hands with the intent that the image and the words refer to each other. The court thus takes on the jury’s job of choosing which among competing inferences is most likely.
Second, the court today distinguishes between a “crude drawing” of a burning cross and “a real live burning cross,” supra at 7, to conclude that the writing on the wall was not intimidating enough to alter the terms and conditions of Jackson’s employment. In Virginia v. Black, 123 S.Ct. at 1547, the Supreme Court observed that the burning cross, when used with intimidating purpose, is among the most powerful messages in our culture. The circumstances in this case support the inference that whoever drew the burning cross did it with intent to intimidate. This was obviously not, for instance, an educational or historical display for Black History month. The record is rife with evidence of hostility between Jackson and his white co-workers, including the spitting incident in which a co-worker referred to Jackson as a “fucking nigger.” Jackson testified that he understood the message of the graffiti to be “scary.” His co-worker Ronnie Davis testified that he believed the graffiti was a threat against Jackson because many of their co-workers didn’t like Jackson. When a symbol threatening racial violence is invoked and continuously displayed in the plaintiffs workplace, it is both “frequent” and “physically threatening.” See Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc., 510 U.S. 17, 23, 114 S.Ct. 367, 126 L.Ed.2d 295 (1993). The appearance of KKK graffiti in a workplace bathroom was not enough to create a hostile environment in Woodland v. Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc., 302 F.3d 839, 844 (8th Cir.2002), but our holding was based on the fact that the employer took prompt and decisive action to eradicate the graffiti. Here, the burning cross stayed on the wall. Jackson testified that it was in a very visible spot by the back door. Moreover, the propinquity of the burning cross to the written jab referring to Jackson by name supports the inference that the threat was directed at Jackson personally, a factor we held significant in creating a hostile environment in Reedy v. Quebecor Printing Eagle, Inc., 333 F.3d 906, 909 (8th Cir.2003).
I would hold that Jackson came forward with sufficient evidence of racial harassment to survive the motion for summary judgment.

. Jackson testified that in his work area “they had the KKK sign with the cross and with my name under it.” In discussing photos he had taken, he said that in a photo of the shower *799"they got the KKK sign plus the burning cross, and then they got my name on it.” Gloria Lawler filed an affidavit stating, “Mr. jackson asked me if I wanted to see the signs at Flint. He told me that the drawings were right on the outside for everyone to see. I walked across a field, and toward the overhead door. Right on the frame of the door was the drawing with KKK-HJ and the cross on it.”

. Jackson described the "HJ slept here” and the KKK graffiti as part of the same photo and stated that he interpreted it as people “let[ting] me know, your ass gonna get burned up.” Defense counsel stated that the name was "actually on the molding pice, it's not on the same portion of what the KKK is,” and Jackson agreed. The copy of the photo reproduced in the appendix is not of sufficient quality for us to resolve any ambiguity, and on this record, it would not be proper to do so anyway.