A small town has fired all their police officers and dissolved the entire police department after a racist joke was allegedly shared amongst the officers through a text message. Is this an overreaction? The decision was made by the city council. The city has now contracted with the County's Sheriff Office to provide law enforcement services to replace its dismantled police department. It happened in the city of Vincent in Shelby County, 35 miles east of Birmingham, in Alabama. Alabama town moves to dissolve its police department over texted racist joke, Helen Kwong and David K. Li, NBC News, August 5, 2022 Vincent Police Chief and Assistant Chief suspended after alleged racist text message (wbrc.com) The joke was really stupid and silly too, almost not even really funny. Almost the only thing that makes it funny is it being intentionally offensive. The racist joke in the text: "What do y'all call a pregnant slave?" "BOGO, buy one get one free" Some could argue that it wasn't necessarily racist, in the strictest technical sense, since it only refers to slavery.
