After unleashing a barrage of racist insults on an Instagram video where she repeatedly used the N-word and referred to Black people as “chimps,” Houston police officer Ashley Gonzalez said she felt at “peace” with herself.
But she is probably having second thoughts now that she has been fired from the Houston Police Department. She has also shut down her Instagram page, but the video has been going viral on other social media pages.
“You all don’t know how good it felt to say ‘n—er’ out loud,” she said in the Instagram video, describing an incident where she suspected a Black youth of wanting to steal her purse while she was in a restaurant with her friend.
“Like god damn, n—a, oh my god, I felt like I was back in the Marine Corps, N—a.”
The Houston Police Department announced Gonzalez’s termination in a statement on Friday, but it was already clear to many Black citizens who watched the video that she is not fit to serve as a police officer patrolling a city where nearly a quarter of its citizens are Black.
“Now they have to go back and research all her arrests for civil rights violations, if she has any,” said a commenter responding to the video after it was posted on Facebook by Smash Da Topic.
“So if you ever were arrested or cited by her, you can potentially sue the department now. She is obviously biased and unable to do her job thoroughly,” added another commenter.
She also admits to grabbing a young Black man and calling him a “chimp” and “n—-r” but she makes no mention of his actually stealing anything.
“I had my f_cking wallet next to me, my whole purse, and that little f_cking small a– chimp decided not to f_cking steal my wallet.
But the video that has been posted may have been edited down, so it’s possible the Black youth attempted to steal from her friend, not that it justifies using racial slurs against him.
“I don’t know what came over me but I grabbed that n_gga by the neck and said, ‘come here, you f—ing n—er.”
“And oh my god, I felt like the world just stopped. Like it was just peace.”
The video is less than two minutes, but she uses the N-word at least 16 times, interchanging with “n—er” and “n—a,” using the former to describe the Black person she was complaining about while using the latter to address her viewers.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use it both ways at the same time,” said another commenter on the Smash Da Topic Facebook post.
Watch the video below.
Not much information has been made available on Gonzalez, but she graduated from the police academy in 2024, according to Fox 26, which broke the story after a tipster sent them the video.
A video of her graduating was posted on Dr. Candice Matthews’ page, the former chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, who is now the National Minister of Politics for The New Black Panther Nation, according to her website.
“There is nothing normal, acceptable, or excusable about that language — not in private, and definitely not from anyone connected to public service or those who defend it,” Matthews wrote on her Facebook page.
“What we are witnessing is not just ignorance — it is a mindset that has been allowed to exist unchecked for far too long.”
Some commenters noticed that Gonzalez used the “close friends” feature on Instagram, limiting her video to a select group of followers rather than all 2,600 of her followers.
The video shows a viewer typing a response, “Girl, I’m watching th…” before deleting the message before sending it.
Fox 26 showed the video to Bishop James Dixon, president of the Houston NAACP.
“The allegations go beyond offensive language and raise deeper concerns about public safety and trust between law enforcement and the community,” he said.
While commanding officers from the Houston Police Department have not addressed the video publicly, the Houston police union – which usually defends cops in trouble – issued a statement condemning her actions.
The Houston Police Officers’ Union is extremely disturbed by a video circulating on social media regarding an officer making offensive, racist comments,” according to the statement published by Click2Houston.
“In no way does the HPOU or its leadership condone or tolerate racist behavior from any of our officers.”
In a similar case, a white Memphis police officer who was suspended without pay for 15 days for posting racist comments on Facebook is suing for back pay, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated.
But as many commenters have pointed out, a cop expressing hate against Black people when his job is to patrol cities with large Black populations is very problematic.
“The amount of times that I will always and forever say that I f—ing hate n—-rs,” were the first words out of Gonzalez’s mouth in her video.
“Oh my god, I f—-ing hate chimps.”
Atlanta Black Star has reached out to the Houston Police Department for more details, including her personnel records and any prior disciplinary action against her, but they have not yet responded to our request.
“They let anybody be a cop these days,” said a third commenter on the Smash Da Topic post. “That’s a scary thought.”
