Tennessee Senator’s aide caught sending racist Obama e-mail

Sherri Goforth, an aide to state senator Diane Black, was given a “strong letter of reprimand” after embarrassing the GOP by sending a mass e-mail with a racist picture attached mocking President Barack Obama.

Following racist humor related debacles originating in Tennessee such as “Barack the Magic Negro,” Goforth forwarded a “historical keepsake photo” of all 44 US Presidents in a mass e-mail. Obama’s photo, however, was just a large pair of white eyes peering out from a black background. Stay classy, Tennessee!

Perhaps most troubling is the still-employed staffer’s attitude regarding the shameful action. From Nashville Is Talking:

When I asked her if she understood the controversial nature of the photo, Goforth would only say she felt very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list. When I gave her a second chance to address the controversial nature of the email, she again repeated that she only felt bad about sending it to the wrong list of people.

The Tennessee Democratic Party is calling for senior staffers to fire Goforth, saying in a press release:

“I am calling on Sen. Black to reject this racist smear and fire this staffer who, on state government time, on state government computers, using a state government email account, launched this bigoted attack on our president,” Forrester said. “Keeping her on the staff would send the message that this type of behavior is condoned by the Senate Republican Caucus.”

“Ms. Goforth does not seem to understand what she did wrong. She has apologized for ‘sending [the email] to the wrong list of people.’ I believe that any list of people would have recognized this email as offensive and hateful. The fact that a state employee would not understand that indicates that she is not fit for employment by the state of Tennessee.”

“We have hundreds of state employees facing the possibility of losing their jobs due to the budget deficit and no fault of their own. I think we could save at least one of those jobs by firing Sherri Goforth.”