To me the issue is that they fired the guy. It's one thing to disagree with someone's statement or political views, it's another to fire them over it.
It might be different if the chaplain was blatantly racist. But even if we read his statement as "I don't think George Floyd was innocent here" - that is not something you should get fired over. You can't compare this to white supremism, he didn't even imply George Floyd wasn't innocent.
He got fired for saying something which suggested he was a racist.
When you fire people over saying things which suggest they are bigoted, you create a culture where people hide mundane things and non-PC facts. You get people to be shy and not say anything for fear of vaguely implying something bad. And you risk hiding real "harsh truths" like (idk) the fact that the J&J vaccine caused fatal blood clots in 0.000014% of people.
It might be different if the chaplain was blatantly racist. But even if we read his statement as "I don't think George Floyd was innocent here" - that is not something you should get fired over. You can't compare this to white supremism, he didn't even imply George Floyd wasn't innocent.
He got fired for saying something which suggested he was a racist.
When you fire people over saying things which suggest they are bigoted, you create a culture where people hide mundane things and non-PC facts. You get people to be shy and not say anything for fear of vaguely implying something bad. And you risk hiding real "harsh truths" like (idk) the fact that the J&J vaccine caused fatal blood clots in 0.000014% of people.