Historical Keepsake Photo: Tennessee GOP Staffer Emails Racist Obama "Spook" Photo

UPDATE: A former aide to ex-Vice President Dick Cheney said on CNN Wednesday morning that Sherri Goforth should be fired for emailing a racist photo to colleagues.

Racism cannot be tolerated for those who have the public trust. This individual said that 'I sent it to the wrong person.' Well, she needs to be looking for a new job, she needs to be fired. It's a poor reflection on her institution that she works in in the state Senate in Tennessee, and a poor reflection on her member. ... Racism has to be stamped out. That's why I said this staffer needs to go. And I think the appropriate course of action would be for this staffer to be dismissed.

Watch, via ThinkProgress:

* * * * *

Sherri Goforth, an executive assistant for Tennessee State Rep. Diane Black (R-Gallatin), sent this picture out to other legislative staffers:

The email was headlined "Historical Keepsake Photo."

One staffer who received the email publicized it online:

I talked to my local rep, Mark Maddox about it, and described the picture to him at a recent fund raising event. I think he was as appalled as I was. I was going to post it last week but there was a death in my family and I had to think about it.

Because it made me mad.

But, you know, people need to know that this stuff is going on. I would be just as angry if a democratic staffer had sent it.

Dammit, Tennessee, haven't we moved past this kind of crap. I'm serious.

Goforth admitted to sending the email, but she apologized only for sending it to the wrong people.

"I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button," Goforth said. "I'm very sick about it, and it's one of those things I can't change or take back."

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Comments

[Libbyland]

Here is my email to Sherri's boss:
Dear Senator Black,
I have a thirteen year old son in the Mt. Juliet, Tennessee public schools. We have raised him to be an honorable, thinking, forgiving young man. However, should he express an opinion that has not been broadcast on FOX news or on the EIB network, he fears greatly for his safety: he happens to support our President.
Sherri Goforth’s “spook” email was an embarrassment and illustrates racist ignorance.
Please do everything in your power to erase the negative stereotypes of African Americans in Tennessee. First, fire Sherri Goforth. Make her racism an example that will not be tolerated. People are people, regardless of how they look. Skin color is a matter of simple pigmentation. We are all the same on the inside. Did you hire an assistant who has not been educated well enough to know this truth? That’s what her email indicates.
Living in Tennessee is becoming a greater and greater source of humiliation. Guns in bars (!!!!!!), road kill, skinheads…please, Ms. Black, be an example for Tennesseans. We have much bigger issues to deal with than someone’s skin color.
Please.

[gremlin1]

Good job!

[snailsalot]

I graduated from MJHS and I know how you feel. There aren't very many thinkers in our town. Watch out for one particular high school biology teacher bringing a creationist speaker to class. It happened to me.
I can't understand why this woman is still in her position. I have emailed my own representatives and have not heard back...

[Colmore]

I e-mailed the senator and told her that since she has not fired the employee, that it can only be assumed that she agrees with her views. I told her I am white, and disgusted that the republican party is so afraid of a highly intelligent, caring, hard working black man, after 8 years of below average people in the White House. I hoped that she will lose her seat in the next election, that I will donate to any democratic candidate who opposes her.

[niesioa]

I'm beginning to think that the "spook" email originated with Diane Black....that would explain her support of Sherri Goforth.

That Sherri F. is Diane Black's executive assistant and feels free to engage in this type of conduct gives one cause to ponder about what those private moments with the senator herself might sound like. Top aides seldom voice sentiments so distant from their standardbearer.

[Steve Wagner]

The women who "outed" this cartoon should be fired...... however..

"This does not reflect on the Republican Party" ?

[alarty]

Let's not be hasty. After all, didn't Sherri Goforth state thatt she hit the wrong button. Maybe she just meant to send it to other like minded racist and fellow kkkers in Tennessee!

There's something else I don't understand in this debate. Isn't President Obama caucasian?

[gretcheno]

Yeah right!! lol

[BunnyFooFoo]

There should be zero tolerance for what Goforth has done.

[MorpheusXNYC]

When is the GOP finally going to be declared a hate group?

[apduncan1]

I suggest a new name: the National Racist Party.

[kedikat]

"I inadvertently hit the wrong button"

Meant to press the k, k, k.

[niesioa]

Now thats funny!

[pam45]

The woman is simply a product of her state and state government. She reflects the views of many who live in TN. Don't forget about the Harold Ford campaign for the Senate and his opponent using the race card to scare Whites in TN. It was a loss that never should have happened but the opponent used racial scare tactics effectively.

[grooveygrover]

she is the product of her parents
how sad

[GreatTruthsSeeker]

This is yet another example of a (R) debris field generated from propagated ignorance. This is not humor. It's blatent racism put forth as thinly veiled humor that no sentient being would find faintly amusing, unless you are an enlightened (R). There are sadly many different spectrums of "enlightenment ", and this spectrum needs attacked with the truth, outrage, and action. Gee, I wonder if most of the enlightened republicans she sent this to found it to be funny. This is the soft underbelly of the GOP. Let's dig a little in their underbelly, plant the truth, and watch them wither.

[Deja Peterson]

oh well what do you expect their republicans././..

[MANK]

Colin Powell will never learn.

[Clearing-Brush]

I just wonder why there are black Repugs? Anyone?

[rock2casbah]

A handful of anything does not make it a precedent. I am sure there are a handful of gay republicans too. As well as Hispanic republicans even after all theRepublican's ir abuse during the immigration debate......so who can figure? Bottom line is Obama took Florida, Indiana, North Carolina and on and on this election, so most people have learned their lessons, even if it was the hard way.

[elcojonu]

As far as I'm concerned, the R after any politician stands for Racist.

[BigRed100]

Ouch. The truth hurts and they say it will set you free.

[Rosy]

Anyone who forwarded a "joke" like this at my office would be fired in a heartbeat. And we don't work for a politician or the government. I'm not sure which is more shocking--that the "joke" was sent in the first place, or that the person doing it still has a job working for a state senator.

[Harold Stone]

In my region, people sending racist messages from a work computer would stand a good chance of losing their jobs; people who publicly embarrass the boss lose their jobs immediately.

[Lauren Collier 1]

I am very appreciative towards the media for making us aware of such nonsense. Subtle racism and bigotry is more dangerous. During my high school years, I was called "Spooky", "Casper", "Blue Jesus", "Dark Gable", and other hurtful names. I am a dark-skinned African-American woman, so I never understood why I was called "Casper". My recollection is that Casper was white. Nonetheless, I overcame the hurt and anger I felt towards those ignorant people (both black and white). I am not angry, nor shocked that this type of bigotry still exists in America. I believe that President Obama and his family will get through this; however, I know they are feeling some hurt...

[colorperdaughter]

As a white person, I apologize for all that you have suffered. Why African-Americans are so forgiving has always been a conundrum to me (I was not raised in this country.) I think it reflects a higher sense of self-worth borne out of centuries of having been put down, sort of like the pride of the Jewish people.

[parkerfly38]

While I laud your sympathy, and I certainly sympathize with what was endured, it's absolutely ridiculous to apologize for something for which you are not personally responsible.

[apduncan1]

I feel the same way; I admire the dignity, repose and forgiveness that African-Americans have in the USA.

It is really admirable after the lynchings and other atrocities done to them until recently.

[rock2casbah]

I doubt that they feel hurt by it. That is what the perpetrators would want. I would feel sorry for the perpetrators as they are such powerless pathetic souls, as that man was that shot up the Holocaust Museum was. Lonely, pathetic and impotent. I am sure the Obama's do not even even bother to think about them at all, only their victims.

[Vere15]

Sherry needs to Goforth and divide

[dax49]

i'd like to know WHY she hasn't been fired? by the way, anydody notice fox hasn't made a big deal about this- maybe they were too busy defending palin

[returnofthejedi]

I predict that they will do as they usually do. Claim that everyone else is racist for pointing out the fact this person is a racist.

[returnofthejedi]

Because the good ole network is still alive in some segments of the society.

[returnofthejedi]

To their frustration, so is a united resistance to their existance in America.

[bilmardre]

The folks at fox would say, "what, the eyes weren't big enough"?

[Willemaq]

Fox hasn't made a big deal about this because they all received the email and forwarded it to their friends for a laugh.