Racism, Social Media

Lawyer Takes Racist Slight To Tribunal Of Social Media

Sometimes the most satisfying justice comes outside of the courtroom.

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Woman paying bill in restaurant, mid sectionLawyers get a reputation for being quick to invoke the court system over even their most minor of inconveniences, often to disastrous results. But one small-town lawyer proves that he has the savvy to take matters into the hands of the waiting social media mob.

John Elledge is a lawyer in Harrisonburg, Virginia. A nice, college town, but that doesn’t mean it is exempt from racist incidents. Elledge’s granddaughter Sadie Karina Elledge, a waitress at Jess’s Lunch, a local restaurant, served someone who decided to take their racist assumptions out on a teenager. In lieu of a tip, they left the message: “Sorry, we only tip citizens.”

John Elledge

Not that the bitchy note would be acceptable if Sadie wasn’t a citizen, but as a matter of fact, she is a U.S. citizen (of Honduran and Mexican descent).

Grandpa John was having absolutely none of this bullsh*t, and posted the above image — with the offending party’s signature — on Facebook, with the message:

You are a complete and total piece of dung.

And this elaboration on his feelings:

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I’d happily do the jail time if I could get just one solid punch in to the face of the son of a bitch who paid for his meal at the luncheonette where my granddaughter works and left the receipt for her with a note saying, “Sorry, we only tip citizens.”

According to Tom Marchese, the manager at Jess’s Lunch, the couple that left this message to Sadie came into the restaurant to complain about the call-out — I guess racism is only “fun” when you can do it in relative anonymity.

Elledge, whose law office is near the restaurant, heard the couple had returned to the scene of the crime, and went over to confront them. As reported by the Washington Post:

About that time, John Elledge walked into the restaurant. He’d heard that the people who wrote the nasty message to Sadie were back and marched to the restaurant to meet them face to face.

“We didn’t talk much,” Elledge told The Post. “She was mad that I posted it…. The guy, he was being really belligerent.”

” … She was asking me why I posted it,” Elledge said. “I said obviously, it was an insult — your signature against my granddaughter — darn right I’m going to post it. And no apologies.”

Just goes to show that sometimes the most satisfying justice comes outside of the courtroom.

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This couple didn’t tip their Latina server. They left a hateful message instead. [Washington Post]

Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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