A lawsuit alleging racial discrimination and retaliation filed by a former Black mayoral aide against Springfield, Massachusetts, and its white mayor is headed for a jury trial after a judge upheld most of his claims that the city’s attorneys sought to dismiss.
On Oct. 1, 2020, Darryl Moss, then Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno’s constituent services director, was fired after posting on his personal Facebook page his reaction to a HuffPost article in which President Donald Trump expressed support for Kyle Rittenhouse , the young man who faced charges for killing two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the aftermath of Jacob Blake ’s shooting and subsequent paralysis at the hands of Kenosha police.
In response to a post that included a screenshot of the Rittenhouse article, on Aug. 26, 2020, Moss wrote, while tagging a friend:
“This is equal to a declaration of war … but this is America! Sundown Sunrise Ass Country … Yo, Keshawn Dobbs, grab the rifles.”…