As unrest in American cities escalated in the days following the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, Lt. Derek Farr, a white officer in a small town in east Alabama, posted on Facebook about some of what he was seeing on TV.

“Protesting? Yea right! More like thugs being thugs. It’s kind of hard to get people to believe that you’re living in fear. Just saying,” he wrote, sparking debates that would continue through the town for years, as parts of America in 2023 are still wrestling with the protests of 2020.

The chief, who is also white, investigated Farr’s post and disciplined him with a two week leave and a move to the role of jail administrator, according to a lawsuit filed by the chief. But a group of mostly white citizens rallied to Farr’s side.

Jill Patterson Hicks emerged from the group, telling a crowd that Roanoke needed more officers like Farr, who has served multiple terms as a county commissioner, a position he still holds. Months later, She was elected mayor over a Black candidate by a handful of votes. Her first act on the job was to force out the police chief who reprimanded Farr. That former chief, Adam Melton, sued, and the case continues today.

In a deposition this year, Patterson Hicks said she believed there was no racial intent behind Farr’s Facebook post about “thugs,” and she did not agree with Melton’s decision to punish Farr. So as soon as she took office, she asked Melton, who had been in his role for about 16 years, to resign.

The mayor said she realized that she could not promote Officer Farr to run the small department without potentially causing “a race war” in Roanoke.

But today many Black residents say they fear being pulled over by the town’s police without cause. “There are a lot of people right here in Roanoke, Alabama that I know of that are being harassed on a daily basis,” Delvan Houston, the head of the NAACP in Roanoke, told AL.com.

“So much hostility”

After Floyd’s death, Roanoke citizens held a small, peaceful protest. When they discovered Farr’s Facebook comments about protesters, members of the community and some Black staff at the police department felt the post was racist. Many were outraged. Mack Bell, a former city council member, said in a deposition he sent the post to the chief and that the local NAACP chapter filed a complaint.

Farr insisted his comments were not racist. He refused to apologize for what he said, and so the police chief put him on administrative leave.

“There was so much hostility that was building and building,” Melton, the former chief, said in his deposition in the lawsuit, “And if something wasn’t done to address it every – even if it was just one, but every Black employee there would have been working in a hostile work environment.”

Officer Farr did not respond to multiple requests for comment from AL.com. “When the accusations were made that I had done something racist, that is absolutely contrary to everything that I am,” Farr said in a deposition in the lawsuit.

Patterson Hicks, the new mayor, was a longtime friend of Farr’s. He was a pastor at a local Baptist church she sometimes attended, and he christened her son. Shortly before her election, she organized a fundraiser to raise about $4,000 for Farr’s family.

The mayor did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But she wrote on the GoFundMe page in June: “Officer Farr has protected and served our community for over thirty years. He has been my brother in Christ, a friend, an advisor, and spiritual leader.”

Concerns about police

Roanoke is a city of 5,338 people in East Alabama. It was once known for a doll manufacturer and a local cotton mill. Today downtown main street boasts a coffee shop and a small theater. Many people in the area still work in manufacturing. About half of the residents are white and a little less than half are Black

Sidney Hare, who is the chair of the Randolph County Republican Party, said he believes the racial controversy swayed the mayoral election.

“It was right in the middle of the mayor’s election, and it was some racial tension. And yeah, I think the vote probably came down strictly Black and white,” he said.

People on both sides agree Roanoke hasn’t been the same since.

Houston, the head of the NAACP in Roanoke, remembers being pulled over by the local police one night in 2022. He passed by a local barber shop and saw some police cars and assumed they were heading a different direction.

“I was on my cellphone, and I turned on Seymour Drive, and I looked up in my mirror, I said, ‘Somebody is riding my butt.’ I said, ‘Who is this?’”

He said he drove down a road with no lane lines painted on it. There were some cars parked on the side of the road and some bumps in the pavement. Houston said he saw blue lights flash behind him and got off the phone. He opened Facebook and started a live recording. The officers came to his car for his license, and he asked why they pulled him over.

“He said, ‘Well, you was riding on the wrong side of the road.’”

While some white residents describe a city where everyone is treated equally and there is no discrimination, members of Roanoke’s Black community say they are aware of how race impacts life in a small town.

They say there are unspoken rules for how people should show deference for whites, and there are consequences for violating them. They describe multiple reunions for alumni of the same high school that are mostly separated by race, and an ongoing frustration over new rules for restricting access to a local community center where Black teens play basketball.

James Whitlow, another Roanoke resident, said the police mistook him for a different person, a guy they had a warrant to arrest, and he told them they had the wrong man. “I’m telling ‘em to leave my house, telling them, please leave my house. You know what I’m saying?” he said. “I can’t even come to my house and enjoy my own house.”

When asked in his deposition in the lawsuit about the perception among leaders of the Black community of discriminatory practices at the Roanoke Police Department, former Chief Melton said he would have addressed such issues.

“I wouldn’t have tolerated this. I would have never tolerated that at all,” he said.

Rev. Ricky Cofield, a local pastor, said police bother his youngest grandchildren, ages 7 and 8 when they play outside.

“The police (are) supposed to protect and serve, but when you got somebody against you and you’re scared to sleep at night, … it done got worse,” he said.

“Nothing racial about it”

After Chief Melton launched an investigation into whether Farr’s Facebook post was racist, white residents rallied to support officer Farr, holding public gatherings, signing petitions for him to keep his job, making YouTube videos and raising money for his family. The Republican Party of Randolph County offered to cover Farr’s legal fees for any defense he might mount, according to the party chairman, Hare.

“In my opinion, they (the NAACP) got all upset about nothing. And I don’t know why they picked on Officer Farr, I have no clue,” said Hare, acknowledging that many people considered Farr’s use of the word ‘thug’ to be a racial slur.

“There’s nothing racial about it,” he said, adding that he has known Farr for over 30 years, and considers him a friend.

By June of 2020, within weeks of making his Facebook post about ‘thugs,’ Farr was put on administrative leave.

“I have spent the last 30 years of my life servicing the citizens of Roanoke, Alabama,” said Farr in his deposition in the lawsuit, adding that when he spoke about ‘thugs’ in his Facebook post, he was referring to people of all races.

Farr said he had been watching the news on TV about looting and destruction of property in Atlanta after the death of George Floyd, and that white, Black and Asian people were telling journalists they are afraid of the police.

“My heart is not to bring division, my heart has always been to bring unity,” Farr said in his deposition.

According to the suit, Farr was disciplined by being transferred to work as a jail administrator before submitting his resignation months later.

Almost 2,000 Farr supporters posted comments on a petition asking the police department to let him keep his job. Many described their histories with Farr and vouched for his character. Many said they did not believe ‘thug’ is a racial slur.

“I knew Derek Farr from my time growing up in Roanoke. I have always known him to be a kind, fair, God-fearing man. The fact that his words were taken out of context and represented as hate speech is absurd,” said one supporter.

“Thug does not pertain to race!” said another.

“Police officers have freedom of speech, the word Thug means criminal. People can’t get away with changing meaning of words to fit their agenda,” said another supporter.

Lawsuit continues

The mayor and Farr’s relationship has cooled since she decided not to make him police chief. In a text exchange with Farr, mentioned in depositions, she told Farr that it wasn’t “his time” and that putting him in charge after the controversy around his statements could increase tensions in Roanoke.

Patterson Hicks instead selected a new chief from within the department, Jonathan Caldwell. Caldwell did not reply to requests for comment for this article.

To Councilman Bell, the city should have done more about residents’ complaints of racism in the department. He wanted Farr to be fired or demoted. He pushed for a citizens’ review board of the police department and for the council to create a policy prohibiting racist statements by employees.

“Let us know we do not have to live in fear of law enforcement officers,” said then Councilman Bell in a message to the police chief complaining about Farr’s post.

“As a Black man, we felt he got away scot-free without having any kind of chastising of what he did as a police officer and the rank he had as a lieutenant at the time,” Bell said in a January deposition.

Former Chief Melton is suing in federal court for retaliation under the Civil Rights Act. He argues he was fired for disciplining Farr after his investigation concluded the lieutenant’s Facebook statements were racist. And he argues that he was required to take action.

“Had Plaintiff taken no action against his Lieutenant for making a racist post on Facebook and condoned Farr’s racist posting, Plaintiff would himself have violated Title VII’s prohibition against engaging in and supporting race discrimination,” the lawsuit states.

The suit, filed in April of 2022, initially named both the City of Roanoke and the mayor as defendants. Patterson Hicks was later dismissed from the case. The city argued in its response to the lawsuit, that the defendants have immunity from suit and that the court lacks jurisdiction over the issues. Attorneys for the city denied that Melton was discriminated against.

“The Defendants’ actions and/or decisions alleged as discriminatory in the Complaint were based on legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons,” they stated in an answer to the complaint, also filed in April of 2022.

The suit continues. It will be two years before another mayoral election and another five years before a new election for the city council.

Charlotte Clark-Frieson, owner of a local funeral home and former head of the local NAACP, says getting people to vote is the way things in Roanoke might someday change.

“This younger generation doesn’t even realize that they have legal recourse against reprisals,” she said “They’re scared out of their wits.”