SAN ANTONIO – Growing up as a migrant farm worker, becoming San Antonio’s poet laureate was something Nephtalí De León didn’t take for granted.
“It was a great honor,” he said.
It lasted for only four months.
In August 2023, De León shared a controversial poem on his personal Facebook.
He said it was honoring the late Dr. Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, a fellow Chicano writer-activist who died.
But some people said two words in the poem were racist and offensive.
De León believes it was misinterpreted.
“The reason [that word is] compared to a nasty slur comes from the Anglo, white history and the relations between them and the Black community,” De León said. “That is not our history. Those are not the relations we’ve ever had. We do not have such an insulting word in our culture or our language as a Chicano Mexican people.”
Soon after posting the poem, De León said he was called into a meeting with the city. He said they gave him two options — resign or be terminated.
He said he got the termination letter after the meeting.
De León is filing a lawsuit against the City of San Antonio for defamation and wrongful termination of his contract.
According to the lawsuit, De León’s litigation team called the city’s statement after the firing “a painful smear campaign, which has severely damaged [De León’s] reputation, both professionally and personally, and which has diminished his professional opportunities.”
His attorney, Casey Norman, believes the firing violated De León’s First Amendment rights, was a breach of contract and was defamatory.
“I think the case is really indicative of this rising trend of cancel culture, which is especially dangerous for free speech when it’s the government you’re talking about is wielding it,” she said.
“What would you say to those people who are offended by the fact that you shared a poem using this word?” asked KSAT reporter Daniela Ibarra.
“That they have allowed a different and foreign culture to ours to detoxify their minds or show their spirit that we have allowed certain people, not everybody, obviously, have allowed our language to be perverted,” De León said.
The City of San Antonio shared the following statement with KSAT:
The City has not been served with the lawsuit. As previously stated, The City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture is committed to championing policies and practices that empower a just, inclusive and equitable city which aligns with the City of San Antonio’s mission statement and core values. The City will vigorously defend these policies and practices in court.
