A racially-charged message posted on a Chicago garage is pitting a homeowner's right to free speech against a federal law that says people cannot attempt to intimidate people of different races looking to move to the neighborhood.
Michael Corrigan posted a display on his garage on the city's south side that read, "Say no to the ghetto. White Power. Mt. Greenwood, the next Englewood," and next to the words he hung a white noose, MyFoxChicago.com reported. It faced the home up for sale next to Corrigan's.
The city's Human Relations Commission called it racist and deplorable, and the city has asked federal authorities to investigate whether or not it is intimidation that violates the Fair Housing Act.
Corrigan calls it lawn art.
One civil rights lawyer thinks the message is disturbing but doesn't know if it violates any laws, especially since the First Amendment guarantees people the right to express even objectionable views.
"There's very disturbing racist messages that are being sent," Betsy Shuman-Moore, with the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, told MyFoxChicago.com. "Whether it crosses the line into being something illegal, whether civilly or criminally, I don't know right now, but I do think that it warrants an investigation."
Click here to read more on this story from MyFoxChicago.com.
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