Seriously??

UPDATE (4/23/11): Not surprisingly, this story has largely lost coverage in the news. Not everyone is forgetting though - I just found an article about a protest that was held today outside Marilyn Davenport's home. Read it here. I like that it was a peaceful, respectful protest with people from many different groups who were there for many reasons.  "This [protest] is motivated by race," said Davenport's neighbor incredulously. Well...yes. Why is that a bad thing? The accusation that something is "motivated by race" or that someone is "pulling the (Black/Latino/"minority") card" is frustrating for me; whenever it's thrown out into the public arena, it seems like everyone - especially politicians - back off immediately. News flash! - Davenport's email was motivated by race - that's why she thought the "joke" was amusing.

Okay, I think it's high time we've moved past a few things:

1. Forwarding ridiculous emails...learn, people, learn!
2. Doing something racist/sexist/homophobic and then crying innocent - you just had no idea that it would offend someone! 
3. While we're on that point - putting the onus on the victim - THEY were offended, so it's THEIR problem.
4. The whole "President Obama wasn't born in America" thing - you have been disproven, so just stop already.

A quick recap of the story:

Marilyn Davenport, a tea partier (can we still call them tea baggers?) and an official on the Orange County Republican Committee, forwarded an email to her friends. The email was the above picture with caption "Now you know why there's no birth certificate". As they always do, the email became public, and Davenport issued an apology - as well as an email to her supporters that she would not be resigning from her position. Her "apology" was offensive in and of itself; Davenport said that she had no idea that the email might be considered offensive or racist. Really? 

There was a lot of public outcry against what Davenport did, and many want her to resign. Clearly, her supporters don't seem to agree that what she did was wrong. As a White woman serving as a politician in an institution built to serve the dominant group, she holds the power. But how would this look if a woman or man of color were to forward an email that was denigrating to White people?

I've often heard Republicans, Conservatives, and tea partiers accuse President Obama of being "racist" against White people. If a politician of color ever sent out an email like the one Davenport sent out, there would be hell to pay. I think the Right (and the Left, probably) would make a statement along the lines of "We cannot tolerate racism anywhere, no matter who it comes from; this is inappropriate and unacceptable, and this person must step down."  There would be much more media coverage, and Fox News would have a field day. With Davenport, however, I wouldn't be surprised if this story is out of the news by tomorrow or the day after, with no real action taken by Davenport to educate herself or remedy the situation.