College to pay $11M for false charges against local bakery
Issues@Hand
AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs
September 2019 – A jury has ruled that Oberlin College (Ohio) must pay $11 million in damages after Gibson’s Bakery won a lawsuit against the college.
In November 2016, Oberlin student Jonathan Aladin was detained and arrested for attempting to steal wine from Gibson’s. Protests and boycotts erupted quickly, charging Gibson’s with racism, apparently because Aladin is black.
Media coverage reported that numerous Oberlin employees participated in the campaign against Gibson’s and distributed flyers that defamed and libeled the business by falsely charging Gibson’s with racism.
Soon after the incident, Aladin pled guilty and wrote, “The clerk was within his legal rights to detain me. … I believe [Gibson’s employees’] actions were not racially motivated.”
