A Philadelphia court supervisor who was captured on cellphone video taking down anti-racism signs in a public area and saying Black lives don't matter to him has been fired.
In a since-deleted video posted to Facebook, Michael Henkel, who was a supervisor writ server for the city's First Judicial District Family Court, is seen taking down handmade signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement Sunday from a fence at Columbus Square park in South Philadelphia.
Henkel did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.
In the video, someone can be heard telling him, "That's not your property," as he pulls the signs from the fence.
"I know. It's the city, I pay for this," Henkel, 61, responds.
A woman then asks him, "Oh you pay for that?" to which he responds, "Yeah. My taxes pay for this place."
The woman says, "Oh, OK."
"Just so you know," Henkel tells her. "So I could do whatever I want."
The woman asks, "You could do whatever you want?" And Henkel says, "You're f------ right I can."
The woman tells Henkel, "See ya around" and he says, "Good. I'm always around. You're welcome."
And she shouts, "Black Lives Matter."
"Not to me, they don't," Henkel responds.
A spokesman for the court, Gabriel Roberts, said Henkel, who was hired by the court on July 1, 1992, is no longer an employee and that his termination was based on multiple violations of the Unified Judicial System Code of Conduct and the nondiscrimination and equal employment policy.
"The Court takes this incident very seriously and believes Mr. Henkel's behavior as shown in the video is egregious and totally unacceptable for an employee of the Courts," Roberts said.
