RUTLAND — The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General has received a complaint detailing the Rutland postmaster’s alleged sharing of racially insensitive content on Facebook.
James Ragosta II, a postmaster in Rutland City, has allegedly shared messages and memes on his Facebook page that the complaint calls “racist, sexist and generally inappropriate.”
The USPS Office of Inspector General confirmed the complaint on July 9 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by VTDigger. VTDigger had previously received information from a resident that a complaint had been filed.
VTDigger confirmed that several memes, shared by the same resident through screenshots of the postmaster’s Facebook profile, were in fact posted to Ragosta’s page in late June. The posts no longer appear publicly but, according to additional screenshots sent to VTDigger, are still posted privately.
The complaint describes a meme that Ragosta shared, originally posted by a profile with the name Jon Maas. It says, “Over 620,000 white people died to free black slaves, and still to this day not even 1 thank you, and now we’re known as racists.”
When contacted, Ragosta declined to comment but asserted that the post is not racist.
Ragosta allegedly shared the meme on Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the liberation of Black slaves. It is unclear whether the timing of the message was a response to the holiday or a coincidence.
A message allegedly posted June 23 says, “If we defund the cops whos gonna Narcan your dumb asses.”
Another, posted in November, shows the face of Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL star who knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality, superimposed on the body of a shoe salesman, with the caption: “Nike found him a job where he can kneel all he wants.”
Ragosta is among the top 10% highest-paid employees at the USPS, according to federalpay.org. USPS does not typically receive tax dollars for its operating expenses, and rather derives funds from the sale of its products and services, but the postmaster is considered a public official.
Steve Doherty, USPS’s strategic communications specialist for the Northeast Area, shared the organization’s guidelines for employees’ personal social media.
The policy requires workers and leaders to be “honest, reliable, trustworthy, courteous, and of good character and reputation,” and must not engage in “dishonest, notoriously disgraceful, immoral, or other conduct prejudicial to the Postal Service.”
Allegations that an employee has misused social media are “investigated and handled on a case-by-base basis,” according to Doherty.
The complaint asks officials at USPS to review Ragosta’s Facebook posts and interview colleagues.
“A U.S. government employee, in a management position, used openly racist dialogues in a public forum and this is unacceptable and should be dealt with accordingly,” the complaint said.
Doherty said Monday morning that the USPS will not investigate Ragosta’s conduct.
“What employees say in public forums is considered protected free speech,” he said. “If they are not alleging to be speaking on behalf of the Postal Service or doing anything that is illegal, there is nothing to investigate.”
Upon reviewing the content sent to VTDigger, Tabitha Moore, president of the Rutland Area NAACP, said she was distrubed, though not surprised, to see the material.
“It’s disappointing and alarming and scary to think that this is someone with a great deal of power and authority who’s harboring these feelings,” she said. “This cannot happen.”
Moore was particularly bothered by a meme Ragosta shared that depicted a white man saying, “I’m pretty sure you’re retarded, but hang on, let me call my buddy who’s a retard expert.” The next panel showed a photo of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a first-term House member who is often the target of attacks by President Donald Trump.
Moore said, as a person of color, she would not feel comfortable working under Ragosta after seeing the content.
“My first concern is for the employees and the patrons and the people who he comes into contact with, who either harbor a different view than him or look differently than him,” she said. “What does this mean for the way he’s interacting with them? You can’t have these beliefs and not have them affect and influence the way that you are in the world, or the way that you treat people.”
Questions have abounded in Vermont recently regarding the content community leaders should be permitted to post on private social media accounts.
On June 12, the Mount Ascutney School District Board unanimously voted to place Tiffany Riley, principal of the K-12 Windsor school, on paid administrative leave after she expressed doubts about the Black Lives Matter movement on her personal Facebook page.
Recent graduates called Riley’s post “insanely tone-deaf,” and, in a statement issued to the community, the board said that through her post, Riley may have created distrust between herself and her students.
Since then, a free-speech group called the National Coalition Against Censorship wrote a letter claiming that the board violated Riley’s first amendment rights and calling for her reinstatement.
Moore feels community leaders are responsible for setting a cultural example, and would like to see Ragosta held accountable.
“It’s woven into the fabric of our society, especially here in Vermont,” she said. “It’s pervasive. And there’s rarely anyone who’s checking these folks to provide a different narrative.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: USPS gets complaint about Rutland postmaster’s social media posts.