Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Racism, Social Media, Texas, Police
William Morgan
Warning: This article contains discussion of racial discrimination which some readers may find distressing.
A police officer who posted a disgusting video on social media, where she rants about 'Black people', has been removed from duty by her department.
The horrendous racist outburst was shared online and the officer has been named locally as Ashley Gonzalez, who has since been relieved of her position by Houston Police Department after the video sparked outrage.
During the video recorded in her car, the Texan bizarrely boasts about an incident where she appears to claim she beat up someone who was Black who stole her purse, and she frequently drops the N-word.
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Then a serving police officer, Gonzalez says a number of abhorrent racist things about the community she was employed to protect and serve. Including sharing how she 'will always and forever say that I f*****g hate [N-word].'
She also mocked the historic evils of slavery and its part in the narrative of many Americans of African descent, saying: “‘Oh, we were slaves,’ I don’t give a f**k, [racist slur], like for a f**king reason you guys were f**king slaves.”
In a viral clip of the offensive video posted on Facebook, Gonzalez also states that she 'hates Black people', adding 'let me get a f**king Black person on a 911 call, tomorrow especially, they're going to f**king jail'.
She also bragged about an incident where an unnamed man had attempted to steal her purse, where she 'whooped the f**k out of that [racist slur] a**'.
Gonzalez, who local news outlets report served in the Marine Corps from 2019 to 2023, attaining the rank of corporal, was sworn in as a HPD officer in January, 2024.
Her racist rant continued: “Y’all don’t know how good it felt to say [racial slur] out loud. Oh my God, I felt like I was back in the Marine Corps. I felt like the world just stopped. It felt like peace.”
These comments have not only drawn fury from racial equality groups like the NAACP, whose local chapter said Gonzalez had a 'sick mindset' and said it was 'violence waiting to happen'.
The Afro American Police Officers League has shared its disgust at the views shared by a serving HPD officer, with them attacking Gonzalez for 'spewing hatred, racism, and de-humanizing Black people by referring to them as 'chimps'.'
They also slammed HPD for failing in its response to the video, adding: "Nearly an entire workday has passed where our department leadership has yet to put out a formal statement to its officers or to the public not condoning this behavior, which was distasteful, disgraceful, disrespectful and despicable."
While the department is yet to confirm any details regarding the video, the local union branch has spoken out.
“The Houston Police Officers Union is extremely disturbed by a video circulating on social media regarding an officer making offensive, racist comments," they said in a statement.
"In no way does the HPOU or its leadership condone or tolerate racist behavior from any of our officers.”
The video and Gonzalez's conduct remains under investigation by Houston Police Department, who remains an employee pending the outcome of the investigation. She has been ordered to turn in her gun and badge in the meantime.
If you have been the victim of discrimination, you can report it via the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division here. In an emergency, always call 911.