It was in my initial viewing of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” nearly a decade ago, that I first heard the slur ‘moolie’ (short for ‘mulignan,’ meaning eggplant in Silcilian)–not to be confused with Lee’s character in the film, Mookie— spewed for the first time.

The vitriol and disgust plastered on actor, John Turturro’s, face as the word left his mouth, indicated the disdain Turturro’s character had for the black community.

Only, Turturro was an actor… In a film…With a script. And not a federal judge like Stephen Millan, who used the same term when referring to a black defendant and another defendant’s “thug” supporters inside a Miami-Dade courtroom in 2016 and 2017, respectively.  

Millan, 52, who is of Italian and Puerto Rican descent, blames his upbringing for the slip of the tongue, stating that he “used it [moolie] intermittently as a ‘youngster’ growing up in New York.” Millan also told the JQC that, “It was not unusual for my friends and I to occasionally use slur words when referring to others, including our friends and ourselves.”  

Millan’s logic similarly resembles that of many members of the black community and others alike who flip once disparaging remarks into terms of endearment when conversing with one another. This is typically only acceptable under predisposed guidelines that both parties agree to and are largely based on some type of mutual identification among the group. A judge and a defendant don’t necessarily fit the criteria.  

Regardless of Millan’s past transgressions as a youth, or his accumulation of derogatory slurs along the way, he is merely following behind a plethora of empowered officials that have “slipped-up’ when referring to minority groups and people of color. Most recently New York lawyer, Aaron Schlossberg, was scrutinized after harassing a group of Spanish-speaking residents in a café last week, for “not speaking English… in his country.”  

Millan has since been reprimanded and ordered to attend a racial sensitivity class along with a $5,000 fine but the JQC recommends that Millan is given a 30-day suspension for his actions, which is still pending.

In the meantime, Millan has been demoted to overseeing cases within the juvenile court system. It will be interesting to see if Millan is as lenient on the youth he is presiding over as he was on his own actions that ultimately followed him into adulthood.