A nurse who lost her position at Kaiser Permanente Roseville (Calif.) Medical Center after saying Stephon Clark "deserved it" in a Facebook post launched a GoFundMe page March 31 and has since raised more than the page's stated goal of $25,000, as of April 5.
Here are five things to know.
1. Faith Linthicum, RN, a labor and delivery nurse, posted a comment to her Facebook in reference to Mr. Clark, a black man who was fatally shot by Sacramento police on March 18 while unarmed. Ms. Linthicum's Facebook post read, "Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples (sic) houses … why run??!!! He deserved it for being stupid."
2. Activist Christina Arechiga took screenshots of Ms. Linthicum's comment and reposted it after discovering she was a nurse in the Sacramento area. On Facebook, Ms. Arechiga said, "How can we trust our lives, the lives of our black and brown babies to these people? Nurses are supposed to help people not be happy when people die."
3. In a prepared statement obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Kaiser Vice President Yvette Radford said the health system "does not tolerate hate or discrimination and has a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion. … We are very much a part of the wonderful and rich diversity of the communities we serve and feel a deep responsibility to them. We are deeply saddened by the events associated with Stephon Clark's death, and will continue to do our part to make sure the community is healthy, safe and inclusive."
4. On her GoFundMe page, Ms. Linthicum asks for donations to help her pay rent. She says she is not a "hateful" or "discriminatory" person and that Kaiser Permanente violated her First Amendment rights "in order to protect themselves from the wrath of these activists."
5. Employment attorney Julia L. Jenness of Sacramento-based law firm Boutin Jones told the Bee private employers can legally determine whether an employee's conduct outside of the workplace is harassing or discriminatory. As of April 3, Ms. Linthicum had not responded to the Bee's multiple attempts to contact her.
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