[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 23-11036 ____________________

ROLAND MCCARTHY, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus CITY OF CORDELE, GEORGIA, JOSHUA DERISO, In his individual and official capacities, Defendants-Appellees.

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Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia D.C. Docket No. 1:22-cv-00072-LAG ____________________ USCA11 Case: 23-11036 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/31/2024 Page: 2 of 11

2 Opinion of the Court 23-11036

Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JILL PRYOR and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge: This appeal involves a complaint about racial politics in a small town in rural Georgia. Joshua Deriso campaigned for election as chairman of the City Commission of Cordele, Georgia, by pub- licly stating his intent to “replace Caucasian employees with Afri- can Americans”; to lead “an entirely African American” City Com- mission; and to replace Roland McCarthy, the white City Manager, with a black City Manager. On social media, Deriso declared, “Structure needs to change . . . More Blacks!!!”; “The new City Manager should be Black”; and “it is time for African Americans to run our city.” Deriso won the election. The same day he and fellow commissioners took their oaths of office, the Commission voted on racial lines to fire McCarthy and to replace him with a black City Manager. Without a tie vote, Deriso, as chairman, did not vote. But he encouraged the other black commissioners to fire McCarthy because he is white. Before the vote, Deriso and Royce Reeves, an- other black commissioner, warned McCarthy that he would be re- placed with a black City Manager. And they told him that he could not return to his former position as Finance Director because he “did not look like” them. The question for us is whether those allegations permit the inference that the City Commission fired McCarthy because he is white. The district court said no and dismissed his complaint. We disagree. We vacate the dismissal of the complaint against the City, USCA11 Case: 23-11036 Document: 37-1 Date Filed: 07/31/2024 Page: 3 of 11

23-11036 Opinion of the Court 3

affirm the dismissal against Deriso in his individual capacity, and remand. I. BACKGROUND At this stage, we recount and accept the allegations of McCarthy’s complaint as true. See Ziyadat v. Diamondrock Hosp. Co., 3 F.4th 1291, 1295 (11th Cir. 2021). The district court dismissed the complaint without requiring an answer to it. We do not know whether the City and Deriso would deny any of the allegations. The City Commission of Cordele, Georgia, hired Roland McCarthy, a white man, as its Finance Director in 2017. In January 2021, the Commission unanimously promoted McCarthy to City Manager. McCarthy demonstrated “exemplary service and exper- tise” in these roles. Seven months into McCarthy’s tenure as City Manager, Joshua Deriso announced his campaign for chairman of