Alaska officials investigate racist e-mails

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Link

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails
By RACHEL D'ORO ? 7 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!"

State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.

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.

"It's embarrassing to the state," she said.

Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin ? the failed Republican vice presidential candidate ? about the e-mails.

Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees among thousands.

"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," he said. "This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

The Rev. Alonzo Patterson, state chairman of the Alaska Black Leadership Conference, encouraged Palin to address the e-mails.

"They're doing that in a state setting," he said. "She should condemn it."

Officials were not releasing the names or positions of workers involved.

It appears the original e-mails were sent to state employees from outside the state system, but some state employees forwarded them.

One e-mail, with the subject line of "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times, Kreitzer said.

It was not immediately clear how many workers were involved in forwarding the e-mails.

The personnel files of state workers who circulated the jokes will be examined for a pattern of similar behavior, Kreitzer said. Discipline will be determined by past behaviors and could range from diversity training to letters of reprimand, she said.

The state was investigating whether the two other e-mails given to the AP also were in the state system, Kreitzer said.

It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Link

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails
By RACHEL D'ORO ? 7 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!"

State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.

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.

"It's embarrassing to the state," she said.

Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin ? the failed Republican vice presidential candidate ? about the e-mails.

Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees among thousands.

"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," he said. "This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

The Rev. Alonzo Patterson, state chairman of the Alaska Black Leadership Conference, encouraged Palin to address the e-mails.

"They're doing that in a state setting," he said. "She should condemn it."

Officials were not releasing the names or positions of workers involved.

It appears the original e-mails were sent to state employees from outside the state system, but some state employees forwarded them.

One e-mail, with the subject line of "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times, Kreitzer said.

It was not immediately clear how many workers were involved in forwarding the e-mails.

The personnel files of state workers who circulated the jokes will be examined for a pattern of similar behavior, Kreitzer said. Discipline will be determined by past behaviors and could range from diversity training to letters of reprimand, she said.

The state was investigating whether the two other e-mails given to the AP also were in the state system, Kreitzer said.

It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Link


It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

Voters Flush George W. Bush Sewage Plant Proposition, Ruin Backers? Plans for Double-Entendre-Laden Victory Speech

Well, CRAP!

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

Well they WOULD have used their yahoo emails but... you know.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

As government officials they should not send any jokes regarding the current and upcoming president from their work mail.

If they want to be typical GOP-ers at home fine, but as soon as they are at work they should represent all the people in their state, not just the racist ones.

 

[Double Trouble]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Link

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails
By RACHEL D'ORO ? 7 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!"

State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.

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.

"It's embarrassing to the state," she said.

Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin ? the failed Republican vice presidential candidate ? about the e-mails.

Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees among thousands.

"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," he said. "This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

The Rev. Alonzo Patterson, state chairman of the Alaska Black Leadership Conference, encouraged Palin to address the e-mails.

"They're doing that in a state setting," he said. "She should condemn it."

Officials were not releasing the names or positions of workers involved.

It appears the original e-mails were sent to state employees from outside the state system, but some state employees forwarded them.

One e-mail, with the subject line of "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times, Kreitzer said.

It was not immediately clear how many workers were involved in forwarding the e-mails.

The personnel files of state workers who circulated the jokes will be examined for a pattern of similar behavior, Kreitzer said. Discipline will be determined by past behaviors and could range from diversity training to letters of reprimand, she said.

The state was investigating whether the two other e-mails given to the AP also were in the state system, Kreitzer said.

It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

Sure, these kinds of emails are probably not appropriate, but common, I really really hope there are more pressing things to be addressed than some unfunny joke emails. I'm sure if someone was checking they'd find millions of "inappropriate" joke emails of all sorts on people's PC, including those who work for government. I'm also guessing millions of "inappropriate" Sarah Palin jokes were freely emailed by people.

Big whoop.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE

It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

They're not the ones pulling the race card, the press is deliberately digging it up.

And, to be fair, there's a difference between making fun of someone for something they actually did (WMD fiasco, Cheney shooting his hunting buddy), and making fun of someone based on an overplayed stereotype loosely linked to the person solely based on their heritage (WTF is the "Night Befo Crizzmus" crap? I mean, he doesn't even talk like that...).

Tell you what, here's what a casual Google search reveals. You decide.

DA NIGHT BEFO CRIZZMUS

Wus da night afo' Crizzmus, and all thru da hood,
everybody be sleepin' and dey be sleepin' damned good.

We hunged up our stockins, an hoped like all heck,
dat dear ole Santy Claws, gunna brang us our check.

All of da family, was ly'in on the flow,
my sister wif her gurlfriend,
and my brother wif some hoe.
I dun passed out on da flow too,
right next to my baby's maw,
when I heared such a fuss,
I thunk...."Sh'eet, it must be da law".

I looked out thru da bars, to see what I'ze could see,

I was spectin' the sherrif, wif a warrent fo' me.
But what did I see, made me say,
"Laaawd look at dat".
dere was a huge watermelon,
pulled by 8 big ass rats.

Now over all of da years, Santy Claws he be white,
but it looks like us brotha's, got a black Santy
tonight.
Faster than a poe'lice car, my homeboy he came,
and whupped up on dem rats,
as he called dem by name.

On Leroy, On Jerome, On Virgil, On Willy,
On Yolanda, On Crayola, On Kiesha, and Nefilly.
Ol' Santy landed dat melon, right there in da street,
I knowed it fo' sho', da damnest thing I ever seed.

Dat black Santy didn't go down no chimney,
he picked da lock on my doe,
an I sez to myself, "Sh'eet...he don dis befoe.
He had a big bag, full of presents I spect,
wif Air Jordans and fake gold, to wear roun my neck.

But he left me no presents, just stated stealin my
shit.
He got my guns and my crack, and my new burglers kit.
Den, wif my shit in his bag, out da windoe he flew,
I sho' woulda chased him, be he snagged my knife too.

He jumped back on dat melon, wif out even a hitch,
and waz gone in two seconds, dat son of a bitch.
So nex year I be hopin', a white Santy we git,
'cause a black Santy Claws, just ain't worf a shit!!!!

 

[nobodyknows]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Link

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails
By RACHEL D'ORO ? 7 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!"

State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.

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.

"It's embarrassing to the state," she said.

Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin ? the failed Republican vice presidential candidate ? about the e-mails.

Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees among thousands.

"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," he said. "This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

The Rev. Alonzo Patterson, state chairman of the Alaska Black Leadership Conference, encouraged Palin to address the e-mails.

"They're doing that in a state setting," he said. "She should condemn it."

Officials were not releasing the names or positions of workers involved.

It appears the original e-mails were sent to state employees from outside the state system, but some state employees forwarded them.

One e-mail, with the subject line of "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times, Kreitzer said.

It was not immediately clear how many workers were involved in forwarding the e-mails.

The personnel files of state workers who circulated the jokes will be examined for a pattern of similar behavior, Kreitzer said. Discipline will be determined by past behaviors and could range from diversity training to letters of reprimand, she said.

The state was investigating whether the two other e-mails given to the AP also were in the state system, Kreitzer said.

It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

Oh My God. There must be a law being broken here someplace???

You know how most racist jokes start?
.
.
.
<looks over left shoulder- looks over right shoulder>
You hear the one about....

:laugh:

 

[StageLeft]

If I were Palin I would ignore it. I'd also look at a globe, but I'd ignore it. It's epic fail to forward any joke like this on company email, people are just stupid.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE

It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

They're not the ones pulling the race card, the press is deliberately digging it up.

And, to be fair, there's a difference between making fun of someone for something they actually did (WMD fiasco, Cheney shooting his hunting buddy), and making fun of someone based on an overplayed stereotype loosely linked to the person solely based on their heritage (WTF is the "Night Befo Crizzmus" crap? I mean, he doesn't even talk like that...).

Tell you what, here's what a casual Google search reveals. You decide.

DA NIGHT BEFO CRIZZMUS

Wus da night afo' Crizzmus, and all thru da hood,
everybody be sleepin' and dey be sleepin' damned good.

We hunged up our stockins, an hoped like all heck,
dat dear ole Santy Claws, gunna brang us our check.

All of da family, was ly'in on the flow,
my sister wif her gurlfriend,
and my brother wif some hoe.
I dun passed out on da flow too,
right next to my baby's maw,
when I heared such a fuss,
I thunk...."Sh'eet, it must be da law".

I looked out thru da bars, to see what I'ze could see,

I was spectin' the sherrif, wif a warrent fo' me.
But what did I see, made me say,
"Laaawd look at dat".
dere was a huge watermelon,
pulled by 8 big ass rats.

Now over all of da years, Santy Claws he be white,
but it looks like us brotha's, got a black Santy
tonight.
Faster than a poe'lice car, my homeboy he came,
and whupped up on dem rats,
as he called dem by name.

On Leroy, On Jerome, On Virgil, On Willy,
On Yolanda, On Crayola, On Kiesha, and Nefilly.
Ol' Santy landed dat melon, right there in da street,
I knowed it fo' sho', da damnest thing I ever seed.

Dat black Santy didn't go down no chimney,
he picked da lock on my doe,
an I sez to myself, "Sh'eet...he don dis befoe.
He had a big bag, full of presents I spect,
wif Air Jordans and fake gold, to wear roun my neck.

But he left me no presents, just stated stealin my
shit.
He got my guns and my crack, and my new burglers kit.
Den, wif my shit in his bag, out da windoe he flew,
I sho' woulda chased him, be he snagged my knife too.

He jumped back on dat melon, wif out even a hitch,
and waz gone in two seconds, dat son of a bitch.
So nex year I be hopin', a white Santy we git,
'cause a black Santy Claws, just ain't worf a shit!!!!

Heh, I think it's amusing. Not drop dead funny, but amusing. Then again I don't have a stick up my rectum.

Did you hear the one...

 

[jackschmittusa]

Racist and ethnic jokes have been around forever, and probably always will be. A few are actually funny. The "Night Before Christmas" one cited was pretty lame. I have always liked the on that begins:


"Twas the night before Christmas,

And all through the house,

The whole damn family

was drunk as a louse.

I've heard plenty of jokes about my name and a few about my ethnicity, and have never been bothered by them. I do however, do think work time is for work (funny as that may sound to some). I think it pretty stupid to leave a record that shows that you were not working because you were reading and sending silly emails. And though weak by itself as evidence, such actions might be used to bolster some future argument that a state employee acted in a discriminatory fashion.

So I would at least do a verbal reprimand, but maybe for different reasons than some.

 

[Dari]

Palin was probably part of it. Alaska is like other redneck states, with ice.

 

[beyoku]

I once worked at a brokerage firm that fired everyone whom had forwarded this racist email one day.
HR guy just came around and said: You, You, you,.............packup your stuff.

 

[umbrella39]

I have to admit, this made me LOL:

"Another black family living in government housing!"

Having admitted that, everyone knows not to use their work account to be stupid or off colored.

 

[Skitzer]

Originally posted by: Dari
Palin was probably part of it. Alaska is like other redneck states, with ice.

Please be more specific ..... like what other redneck states? Care to name them?
I'm willing to bet that this type of incident is not exclusive to Alaska.
I'm sure you will find this type of garbage in all State governments.

Oh, by the way, if my sarcasm meter is malfunctioning let me know.

 

[fskimospy]

This is just dumb of the people involved. Forwarding racist/sexist/explicit/whatever emails on company/government email accounts is going to get you in trouble no matter where you work. I don't see why this is particularly newsworthy, as there are retards that do this all over the country, but people should be disciplined over it. It's just unprofessional.

 

[LumbergTech]

Doesn't surprise me at all, most Alaskans whom I asked an opinion of Obama generally used the N word. Not kidding

 

[piasabird]

There are always racist jokes going back and forth making fun of people in different groups of people. This is nothing new. People are always getting in trouble for their somewhat tastless humor.

I did not notice that many black people in Alaska when I lived there. However, Alaska is a very diverse society. There are alaskan Natives, Tribal groups, French, Russian, Military, and every possible group like French Canadians. Alaskans consider the people in the Lower 48 states to be foreigners.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: eskimospy
This is just dumb of the people involved. Forwarding racist/sexist/explicit/whatever emails on company/government email accounts is going to get you in trouble no matter where you work. I don't see why this is particularly newsworthy, as there are retards that do this all over the country, but people should be disciplined over it. It's just unprofessional.

This.

It's stupid to be forwarding any jokes on your work email account, but to forward racist ones is a whole other level of stupidity.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Link

AP NewsBreak: Alaska investigates racist e-mails
By RACHEL D'ORO ? 7 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ? Alaska officials are investigating racist jokes about President-elect Barack Obama that have been circulating on state government e-mail accounts.

One of the five e-mails obtained by The Associated Press asks about the outcome of the Democrat's victory after all the time and money invested and concludes: "Another black family living in government housing!"

State officials were unaware of the e-mails until asked about them by the AP.

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.

"It's embarrassing to the state," she said.

Kreitzer said she alerted the office of Gov. Sarah Palin ? the failed Republican vice presidential candidate ? about the e-mails.

Bill McAllister, Palin's spokesman, said in an e-mail that the matter concerned individual actions taken by a handful of state employees among thousands.

"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," he said. "This is, of course, a confidential personnel and disciplinary matter that has nothing to do with the governor's office."

The Rev. Alonzo Patterson, state chairman of the Alaska Black Leadership Conference, encouraged Palin to address the e-mails.

"They're doing that in a state setting," he said. "She should condemn it."

Officials were not releasing the names or positions of workers involved.

It appears the original e-mails were sent to state employees from outside the state system, but some state employees forwarded them.

One e-mail, with the subject line of "Night Befo Crizzmus," was forwarded dozens of times, Kreitzer said.

It was not immediately clear how many workers were involved in forwarding the e-mails.

The personnel files of state workers who circulated the jokes will be examined for a pattern of similar behavior, Kreitzer said. Discipline will be determined by past behaviors and could range from diversity training to letters of reprimand, she said.

The state was investigating whether the two other e-mails given to the AP also were in the state system, Kreitzer said.

It was only a matter of time for such jokes to surface, but Palin would do good to condemn it as soon as possible. Sending these email from official state email addresses is stupid.

It was only a matter of time before the race card got pulled, and people no longer are allowed to make fun of the president... Now remember not to poke fun at GWB either... because its not fair to cry foul on one, but not the other.

In 8 years I haven't seen a single racist joke about GWB