Racist Emails on State of Alaska Accounts: A Palin Connection?

A series of racist emails sent out on State of Alaska email accounts have targeted President-elect Barack Obama. In one, the concluding line assessed Obama's victory and impending move to the White House as: "Another black living in government housing!"

According to the Associated Press, three of the racist messages were confirmed by the state's information technology division after an electronic search of the government's e-mail system, Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer said Wednesday.

One of the emails, entitled "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times.

Whether Governor Sarah Palin had knowledge of the emails in advance of the AP story is uncertain. She has so far not commented on the email. Her spokesperson, Bill McAllister, who is of African American descent, indicated that there was an ongoing investigation and has "nothing to do with the governor's office."

But sources that I have spoken to in Alaska acknowledge that there is a pervasive "atmosphere of racism" throughout pockets of state government. "You hear it all the time," said one. "It's accepted as part of normal conversation. No one can be surprised by this. Sarah has done nothing to stop it."

Palin's failure to condemn the emails immediately is troubling--but not out of character. When supporters at her rallies shouted out threats about Obama, such as "kill him" or "off with his head," she similarly failed to condemn such outbursts at the time.

One supporter at a McCain-Palin rally was caught on tape declaring about Obama, "I'm afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He's not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?"

Palin refused to distance herself from such remarks.

Palin has long had strained relations with Alaska's African American community. "Blacks don't have the levels of access to the governor and state commissioners as with past administrations," said African American attorney Rex Butler and an Alaska resident since 1983. "It seems the posture of (Palin's) administration with Blacks is: Don't need them, don't worry about them."

During the presidential campaign, Gwendolyn Alexander, the president of Alaska's African-American Historical Society, detailed controversies such as Palin's staffing practices, Palin allegedly stating she "doesn't have to hire any Blacks" for major projects and her refusal to attend that state's major African-American celebration - Juneteenth. "Gov. Palin was the first governor not to send out a congratulatory letter or assist us in any way with our Juneteenth activities," Alexander wrote. "I didn't have the courtesy of receiving a reply when I asked for a representative from the Governor's office to come and speak at our Juneteenth Celebration."

To see how those in the right-wing Republican circles responded to the news of the emails, one need only go to FreeRepublic.com. "This what you get [sic] with an affirmative action fraud who has gammed the legal systems all his adult life," wrote one respondent. "This fraudulent leftist is the end result of allowing affirmative action and political correctness to destory [sic] the nation and sissify our governement [sic] and courts."

Palin, herself, was accused of making such comments about Obama herself prior to her receiving the VP nomination. Those who know her are split about whether they believe she made them or not. "I don't think she did," said one longtime resident of Wasilla. "But my husband thinks she could have. Who knows? I've never heard her say anything like that."

But on the campaign trail, Palin ramped up the rhetoric about Obama to the point of being incendiary. "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America," she declared. She also charged him with"pallin' around with terrorists" and declaring that "he's not one of us."

As many people noted, Palin's rhetoric was racially coded--and the implications were clear.

"He's 'not one of us?'" observed African American congressmember Gregory Meeks of New York. "That's racial. That's fear. They know they can't win on the issues, so the last resort they have is race and fear."

Even her positioning herself as a "hockey mom" had racial implications. "Who are these hockey moms?" asked New York Representative Yvette Clarke. "Is that supposed to be terminology that is of common ground to all Americans? I don't find that. It leaves a lot of people out."

Comments

[lis60]

None of this surprises me. The other article about the group supporting her for president and their racist comments scared me too. Imagine how Palin feels about other groups of people that are unlike her small minded gun toting animal killing friends?

[dajuice7]

Info such as this has been leaking out since Palin was named the VP candidate for the GOP. While disappointed, I'm not surprised at this latest revelation. I hope to God that Palin is the GOP candidate in 2012...that would clinch an Obama landslide.

[lulupeeps]

I have lived in Alaska now for 8 years and this is no surprise to me at all. Alaska government couldn't be more corrupt if they arent already in jail they are being investigated. The racism is also not surprising the comments and looks I got sporting my Obama wear during the election was sickening. It is pretty much like parts of the red neck racist south just colder.

[glake]

This should be required reading despite how offensive it is - it's a wake up call and quite revealing. We only got a peek of these folks during the campaign.

And Dunn sums it up best when he says "...so much for 'Christian charity. As for Sarah Palin herself, she has yet to officially sign up for the web site, though she did send a note to the founders and wrote. "...Thank you for all you are doing for women, families, children... America!"

You betcha!

[holdfam1]

I'm sure no one on this blog was offended by Rev Wright? Only time Obama called him out was when he was forced too (for political reasons) so cry me a river....... And those "palling around with terriorists" comments did refer to a white man so I'm still not sure why they're racist.....

[WarriorLemming]

You forgot to mention Palin's "witch-hunting" pastor, holdfam1. Should we have heard a bit of outrage from her over that? This Pastor of Palins is said to have driven a woman out of town because he said she was "a witch". How would you like if if someone accused you of being a witch and made you vacate your home and town without trial or jury? Judging from your post, holdfam1, I think you would stand up and shout your indignation and the unfairness of it all but it will be too late if Palins ever President and we all live in the "Twillight Zone".

[KJ06]

While I am not surprised in the slightest about this turn of events, I am very upset with the people of Alaska especially the African Americans who did not do enough to shed a brighter light on who Sarah Palin really is. I know she did quite enough to hang her own rope around the neck of her political career, but it would have been nice for those who are unable to see the truth, to know the ignorant remarks she has made about "not needing" to support the African American community in whatever way she expressed it. Hearing who she is from the people who worked directly with her is what should have happened months ago. But thank the good Lord that the American people (not just African Americans) were able to make the right choice and avoid the catastrophe that would have been a McCain/Palin Administration.

[Flick08]

Isn't the state of Alaska on government cheese?

[hortonhearsawho2]

Where do we send our hate mail for her...

[CrescentDragonwagon]

Why isn't this on MSN or NBC or CNN...
Well, let's think about it a moment... what we have is rumor. I own a business that employs 120 people. Now, the things that I hear through the grapevine that I have done or said would curl anyone's toenails. And, that is the way gossip is. It grows nastier with each retelling.
It is going to be pretty tough to declare her a racist when her spokesperson, Bill McAllister, is of African American descent. We want dirt, of course, but let's have names, dates. and actual quotes.

[Chaimirija]

true dat

[lovable]

WHY IS THIS NOT ON THE MSM ???????? AND CABLE ??????
THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE CHLOTHES!!!!!!!!!

[lis60]

Send it to them. Everyone should.

[kcinpa]

Nothing in this article should be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention for the past 5 months. It's just who she is.

[chippa]

Go to the team sarah website. In the Alaska Dispatch they had some chat room examples of this same sort of hate speak from this web site. Just goes to show you what her supporters are thinking. Maybe thats why she does not reject this kind of stuff publicly.

[CR46]

She is nothing but a racist, bigoted, meanspirited example of a poor excuse for a human being!

[KayJay90]

Palin spokesman Bill McAllister's statement is as contemptible as the racist e-mails forwarding. "My understanding is that the Department of Administration is following up on this with the individuals who took action to forward the offensive e-mails. This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

Nothing to do with the governor's office? You mean Sarah Palin is responsible only for what goes on inside the 4 walls of her office? Is she not the leader of her state? Is there not a STATE policy banning use of STATE e-mail services and STATE equipment for such abhorrent messages?

At http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ADMIN/info/policy/offpol.pdf -- it's unclear. The perpetrators of this nasty e-mail-forwarding may have an out. There's the usual boilerplate mandates and penalties, but the last paragraph indicates employees must read the policy and sign it in the presence of their employer -- it doesn't say that this must be done on first hiring.

The last paragraph: "After reading and signing this policy, state employees have 48 hours after the date signed to clear any material that does not conform with this policy from any office technology."

How convenient. I guess all the supervisors and managers in the Alaska state offices are distributing copies of this policy, making sure each employee sign and date it with today's date, with instructions to clean things up by Friday night.

[Girl28]

I already knew Palin was racist. After she went off script saying that Obama wasn't "like us." I'm not suprised that her administration isn't very accessible to the african american community.

[Festives]

Sarah is all class. she loves all americans!
The notion that she is some sort of obsessive partisan is a media propagated myth.

[PresidentBeeblebrox]

She loves all Americans as long as they're part of Real America. C'mon, get with it. Her own words reveal her true political beliefs.

[chippa]

Maybe she has class to you . I as an afro american was very uncomfortable with her campaign rallies. Why did she say "pro american parts of the country? Why did she not disassociate herself when her supporters were bringing monkeys to her rallies with Obama/Biden stickers around his head? I read that in newsweek mag that threats increaesed during that period (pals around with terrorist) Is she racist? Only she can answer that. I know if she ever runs again I will work against her with the same enthusiasim as she revealed during the campaign!

[clamperken]

You sure use the word "class" mighty loosely. Sarah Palin's obsessive partisanship is no myth and she didn't need the media to propagate it. She displayed her hatred and intolerance and general stupidity for all the world to see everytime she opened her mouth to speak. Perhaps you are talking about a different "Sarah". Or did you have your finger on the mute button so you could plead ignorance at the end of the train wreck?

[lis60]

Class??? Are you serious? That is the funniest thing I have ever heard. The woman has no class whatsoever. I have seen her talk, heard her speeches going back a long way. You are biased.

[The nice dog over there]

A few comments based on this article and the reader comments:

1) It is my understanding that the "kill him!" chant against Barack Obama at a Sarah Palin rally was investigated by the Secret Service and found to be false.

2) Sarah Palin is not a racist. If she had racist beliefs, they would certainly have quickly been discovered and WIDELY published during the campaign. No doubt the Huffington Post would have had screaming headlines about that every single day. Palin would have had to resign from the GOP ticket.

3) Sarah Palin turned DOWN a pay raise today as Alaska governor.

4) State government employees send out vast numbers of emails every single day. How is Sarah Palin supposed to be responsible for that?

[gd h]

re: 1, 2 and 3: Really?? re: 4. The buck stops at the CEO. Oh, wait, it doesn't any more...she's probably not responsible for anything, huh?

[MamaBird62]

Gov. Palin got a 46% pay raise in '06, largest in state history. She didn't turn that down. Then she commissioned a panel to look into getting an even bigger raise for herself and other "commissioners," whom she has appointed. That was before the oil price tanked, taking down with it the Alaska economy. Now she says "no thanks" to an ADDITIONAL $25K raise, what a hero!

[Ksisay]

The first report of someone yelling, "Kill Him!" was concluded to be false, because there were no witnesses. The second and third time it happened (at subsequent Palin rallies) there were newspaper reporters there and it was reported in the local presses. The corporate media wouldn't touch it, which may be why you don't know about it. Sarah Palin never apologized for her supporters nor distanced herself from their threats of violence. The fact that many Republicans consider her a viable option for the future of their party, says a lot about many (though not all) Republicans.