Eric Giunta, a Florida Department of Corrections lawyer placed under disciplinary review for derogatory comments he made about black people on a theologian’s Facebook page, has resigned.

“Black people need to stop raping, murdering, stealing, and vandalizing, and quit having children out of wedlock. That's how literally every other once-despised ethnic group broke the cycle and entered into the middle class mainstream," Giunta wrote in reaction to a video about systemic racism posted by a theology professor on Tuesday.

Holly Taylor Coolman, a professor at Providence College, a Catholic college in Rhode Island, wrote she didn't even know how to respond: "I'll just say briefly that I don't think your comment reflects an understanding of the important differences between the history of the black community and of ‘every other once-despised ethnic group’."

Giunta replied that he saw nothing in the video “that even remotely took into account black lifestyle choices and their impact on black poverty. Not a word. As if high crime rates, promiscuous sexuality, out-of-wedlock births, lack of marriage, etc. has no impact whatsoever on social and economic advancement. Nope, it's all the fault of the white devil!”

He acknowledged that many blacks have done well for themselves, but reiterated that if "blacks want to improve their lot they need to adopt more bougeois (sic) lifestyle habits and reform their destructive subcultures."

Several hours after the Tallahassee Democrat first reported the post Wednesday, an FDC official said Giunta resigned.

"This individual’s comments are absolutely unacceptable and are not in line with the values of the Florida Department of Corrections, nor are they a reflection of the thousands of dedicated professionals who serve our agency daily," said Michelle Glady, Director of Communications for FDC.

According to his LinkedIn page, Giunta, 34, has been an assistant general counsel at FDC since December 2017. He works in the habeas division and earns $60,000 a year. Glady said he has no contact with inmates.

A member of The Florida Bar since 2012, Giunta previously worked as a senior judicial clerk for the Florida First District Court of Appeal, an attorney for the Construction Licensing Board, and chief legal correspondent for Sunshine State News.

He also wrote a column for a conservative website, Renew America, until 2015.

Contacted by phone at his office, Giunta — a graduate of the Florida State University College of Law, where he was president of the campus chapter of the Federalist Society — confirmed he made the comment, and subsequent comments on Coolman’s feed about systemic racism.

He opted not to answer questions, but in a lengthy written statement to the Tallahassee Democrat, Giunta said he took offense at the video for blaming the “challenges facing black individuals and communities" to “systemic racism” by white people.

“My response was admittedly brusque, but I obviously did not mean to suggest that all or even most black people are criminals, violent or otherwise. Rather, I was pointing out what I perceived to be the deficits of the video: the failure to address the effect relatively high crime rates, and astronomically high out-of-wedlock birth rates, have on black communities and the ability of many blacks to break out of the economic-depressive cycles the video refers to.”

He went on to say his reply was to a social media “pen pal, not to the broader public, and my wording was admittedly inartful.”

As the son of Italian immigrants, he said he did not “have a racist bone in my body.”

He added that he did not believe the “socio-economic difficulties faced by many black communities are in any way intrinsic to being black,” and can be overcome through cultural reforms within their communities just as other ethnic groups have done.

“I made it equally clear that many blacks have in fact broken through the aforementioned cycles precisely by embracing these values,” he added.

He also posted his statement on the Facebook post.

His full statement is provided below:

Speaking solely for myself: I took offense at a video, posted by a Facebook friend, attributing the challenges facing black individuals and communities to “systemic racism” on the part of “whites.” My response was admittedly brusque, but I obviously did not mean to suggest that all or even most black people are criminals, violent or otherwise. Rather, I was pointing out what I perceived to be the deficits of the video: the failure to address the effect relatively high crime rates, and astronomically high out-of-wedlock birth rates, have on black communities and the ability of many blacks to break out of the economic-depressive cycles the video refers to.



My reply was directed to a social media pen pal, not to the broader public, and my wording was admittedly inartful. Suffice it to say I, a son of immigrants, do not have a racist bone in my body, and I went out of my way in my comments to make clear that I do not believe the socio-economic difficulties faced by many black communities are in any way intrinsic to being black, but that they can be overcome by adequate cultural reformation within these communities, in much the same way other once-disadvantaged ethnic groups in this country, including my own, broke these same depressive cycles by the adoption of so-called “bourgeois values”: getting married before having children and staying married for the children’s sake; working hard, as if no one owed you welfare; being civic-minded and charitable; going out of one’s way to obey the laws and avoid substance abuse, etc. I made it equally clear that many blacks have in fact broken through the aforementioned cycles precisely by embracing these values.

I believe it is a relative sub-cultural deficit of those values which better explains the problems highlighted in the aforementioned video, not “systemic racism” by “white people.”

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.