Barbara York, Maine Selectwoman, Under Fire for Sending Racist Email Denigrating First Lady Michelle Obama

Babara York, Maine Selectwoman under fire for sending racist emails portraying First Lady Michelle Obama and a monkey with similar facial expressions.

It's safe to say that most people have never heard of Casco, Maine, but they are now being featured prominently on the news. Some racist emails sent by Selectwoman Barbara York July 31, portraying Mrs. Obama and a monkey with similar facial expressions, have surface. According to the Portland Press Herald, it also contained a joke that has been widely circulated on the Internet, alluding to Obama's ancestry. Is is unclear why the email became public knowledge during last Tuesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. Mary-Vienessa Fernandes, a black resident of Casco, told the board she came home from work recently and found a printed copy of the email in an envelope that had been placed on her door, according to the Portland Press Herald. Fernandes called for York to resign from her position.

"I would hate to think that somebody might find fun in thinking I come from apes and not from Adam and Eve,” she said. “I do apologize,” York replied. “It was sent to me, and I sent it on. I’m sorry if it offended anybody.” York, who is in her 70s, is a prominent member of the community. She has served on the Board of Selectmen since the early 1990s. She recently was president of the Casco Village United Church of Christ.

Fernandes, 56, who works at group homes for the mentally disabled and moved to Casco three years ago, said York’s apology is not enough. She wants the board to ask York to resign. “I won’t allow them to push this under the rug,” she said. Antonio Jackson, 37, an African-American who attended the meeting, said York needs to apologize to the entire town, not just its black residents.

The Board of Selectmen plans to discuss the issue April 6. Town Manager David Morton said Selectman Carroll Morton showed him an inappropriate e-mail that York had sent to someone in July. The town manager said he spoke to York and told her that the e-mail was offensive and that she shouldn’t be sending e-mails like that to anybody. Source: Portland Press Herald

Ms. York needs to be censured. With all the racial tensions abound lately, one has to wonder if we are we living in the dark ages of racial oppression that clung to the fabric of America's being for so long.

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