A federal judge in Montana has admitted to sending a racially insensitive email about President Obama, which also compared African-Americans to dogs.
However, Richard Cebull, a chief United States District Judge appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001, defended himself by saying that the email was not sent because of any racist feelings on his part, but rather because he was decidedly anti-Obama.
In the email, Cebull wrote: “Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.”
The message continues with the joke, “A little boy said to his mother; ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’ His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”
In an interview, Cebull admitted that the email’s message was racist but the judge insisted that he does not consider himself to be a racist. He added that the email message was intended to be distributed privately. “The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our President, but this goes beyond not being a fan,” he said in an interview with the Great Falls Tribune in Montana. “I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”
He also offered an apology, saying he could “understand why people would be offended.”
The president and his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, have been the subjects of an uncommonly large number of racist emails, jokes and comments by various Republican public officials.
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(Photos from left: Wikicommons, Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images)