Need to vent/advice RE: racist email from coworker

[Caoimhe]

I hate to even paste it here but I got this when I checked my mail a bit ago. It was sent during work to myself and 4 other coworkers.

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govt. housing...again....



I was sitting here thinking during lunch and this thought struck me ......




After all that time and money spent during the election, what actually was the outcome? ......




Another black family living in government housing.



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This fucktard fancies himself to be our supervisor, and the boss himself is a repuke.. so I doubt I can lobby much in terms of outrage there. But it pisses me off to no end that this jerkoff is sending out crap like this, on work time, with the work computer. The other coworkers he sent this to are all uneducated McCain/Palin voters who I am quite sure got themselves a little chuckle out of it. Granted, I doubt he's ever even met a black person, and if he did, he would probably shrink and hide.

Not to steal the line from Rachel Maddow but.. can someone talk me down? I know there are plenty of you out there that live in red states or in red areas or blue states. I will not make my life any easier by confronting this jerk, but I feel like NOT condemning it is in fact CONDONING it. Argh!!!

[wryter2000]

1. To respond or not to respond

It's a hard choice. Can you get in trouble if you ask him not to send you anything like this again?

[genna]

2. Does your company have a human resource group or a whistle blower policy on

a racially hostile work environment?


How about having a local newspaper who can publish that 'wise insight' from a local business leader in the field?


I doubt complaining to either one of your bosses would work. The question is there a way to embarrass that stereotyping son of a pig without losing your job? His words should cook him.

[Caoimhe]

5. Unfortunately no

We have a total of 22 employees. The head boss manages by memorandum. We have an extremely weak union, and this jerkwad is IN IT! The local newspaper has been carrying at least one hate-Obama letter to the editor every week for about 2 months, with no responses by anyone. Everyone fears.. can you believe this is America I am talking about?

[The Blue Flower]

3. I'd feign stupidity

Ask him if he means like the black families serving in the military or does he mean like the white family currently living in the WH?

[Lex]

14. that's pretty good

:thumbsup:

[Caoimhe]

4. I need my job

and I really don't know. I mean, it would be hard for him to defend himself on this. I just hate how arrogant and open these racist jerks are. They should be ashamed. Why is it that I feel shame for this jerk, but he feels none? He makes me ashamed to be an American. A few months ago he was passing around a cartoon of what the White House would look like under Obama, complete with Islamic symbols and shit like watermelons and fried chicken. I guess I had hoped that the election would put an end to it. But it seems stupidity and hate know no bounds.

What I did do was forward the email to my husband for his advice.. Something like that being sent around by a teacher would be cause for a reprimand, but where I work, it seems anything goes.

[vduhr]

9. This may fall under hostile work environment harassment laws

Here's a link: http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/harass/breadth.htm

If you feel you cannot go to your boss, then you can go to an attorney. Do not destroy that e-mail. If you have to protect it, forward it to your personal e-mail. You can make an appointment with an attorney who does not charge an initial consultation fee. Call you the BAR Association in your state to get a referral or check your local yellow pages. I am sure there is an attorney out there that would just love to hear from you about this! We need to stop this kind of hate now. My son also encountered it at his job the day after the election. He simply went to his CEO and the guy that made the racial statement is on "leave", and has not returned yet. It is the law, and a company that does nothing about it can be in deep trouble.

Do something about this now. You cannot lose your job for this, and if they do fire you, you have an even bigger case and can recover everything you have financially lost if this happens.

[Tampa Rob]

6. Don't jeopardize your job over an idiot.

He makes out, and your statement is wasted.

But if you can pull it off, pee in his coffee!

TR

[Caoimhe]

7. HAHA!

Oooh.. now you got me thinkin...

[Thrill]

8. Just give her a few simple words. GET OVER IT

[TheWraith]

10. Who could you notify in local government? Do you have a local EEOC or chamber of commerce?

Threatening to go to them could get the big boss to do the right thing.

[wtbymark]

11. State labor board, State AG

local ACLU lawyers
even your congressman (if he's not a repuke)
....some suggestions

[AspenRose]

19. Good suggestions

[firedupdem]

12. I understand you need your job....I know I need A job but I would

just hit the reply button and state "I find this offensive, please don't email me anymore "jokes" of this nature" and then go on about your merry way. I've done that before and I didn't have an issue other than the person who sent the crap seemed a bit nervous around me for awhile. I'm black and did that with an idiot sending me some kind of mexican joke.

[Caoimhe]

13. That sounds pretty reasonable

My fear is that he won't stop sending that hate-filled stuff around, he just will take me off his "send all" list. So I might be spared the racist email, but he's still spewing it on a work computer on work time to others that either agree with it or if they don't, are too frightened to protest. I'm still thinking on it.

[firedupdem]

17. I know what you mean...but it may scare him enough to shut his

mouth. I would think he wouldn't want to get in trouble and lose his job over this stuff. He sounds like an ass so who knows. Yikes! Keep us posted...I dunno!

[pipi_k]

15. Would there be anything illegal about

"accidentally" posting this fool's email here so DUers could tell him where to go?


:evilgrin:

[Caoimhe]

16. Oh wow, you have no idea how tempting that is.... but I can't

[pipi_k]

23. Darn

it would have made my day


Well, I'll take the consolation prize and think really nasty things about him instead....

[DavidDvorkin]

18. "And that black family will have to fix it up

after it was trashed by the trailer-park whites who've been living in it for the last 8 years."

Well, that's one possible reply.

[ecstatic]

20. You work for a very small business with a loose canon boss

His email was disgusting, but if you can't afford to lose your job, hang in there until something better comes along. I know some small business owners who are very trigger happy when it comes to firing.

[FrenchieCat]

21. Tell 'me Obama won, and that's that......

[Berry Cool]

22. Your solution is simple.

Go to the head boss. Tell him you are concerned because you are getting a number of non-work-related emails in your work account (without naming names--just say "It isn't any one person, I don't want to point fingers; it's just a problem") and that you believe this is a poor use of employee time and company resources. See if he doesn't agree, and decide to issue a blanket memo reminding everyone that their work computers are to be used for work--not for distributing gossip, recipes, jokes, etc.

That should have a chilling effect on the person causing the problem without enabling him to pinpoint the source of the complaint.

[sohndrsmith]

24. Dang, that's a tough one... I commend your caution and share your anger.

My first instinct was to respond with confusion as to what he meant by "again" or "another" (out of the 43 families occupying the house in question, unless I'm mistaken I don't believe any of them were black.
The fact that there's been a nation-destroying idiot enjoying these digs for the last eight years is probably a concept this guy will never grasp.

Does your company have an email policy that prohibits the use of company email to transmit defamatory/racist/sexual/etc. statements?

Would it be appropriate for you to reply to this person to request that he not include you when sending email that isn't work related (wording it better than I have, though, so it doesn't sound antagonistic, but civil and professional)? Something like that might give him the idea that his emails could get him in trouble if he continues sending such stuff.

I don't think alerting this guy that you don't condone his racist views will result in anything useful or positive, so I wouldn't address *what* he wrote with him at all. He won't appreciate hearing it, and you won't be able to help him see why he's wrong so I (personally) wouldn't do it. I'd keep it a general request that non-work emails are distracting or something and would he please skip over you in the future.

If you have a specific company policy and this is in violation, that's a different story. How a recipient should handle such an issue would hopefully be included in such a policy, too.

If you know the other 4 workers well, I might be tempted to discuss this with them, privately, if only to vent and be able to acknowledge out loud to each other that you don't condone this, they would likely want to do the same. Perhaps as a group you could figure out a course of action that would help eliminate this vileness - at least within your company. I agree that none of us should be complacent about racism, and it's very hard indeed if the price of speaking up ends up harming you personally, or even costing you your job. That choice should never occur, but it does.

It's a tough one, especially if he's a superior and/or his superior might hold similar views (especially if you don't have a company email policy or employee policy that specifies things like this)...

I could be totally wrong, but putting myself in your position, these are the things that I would consider in order to figure out how to proceed.

... and I'm not really entirely comfortable or happy with what I've written here, because this kind of thing is never acceptable, and it is a sorry example of the state of this country that you're in such a predicament.

Good luck!

[Caoimhe]

25. WOW WOW and WOW

What an amazing and thoughtful response. I am so amazed by the fact that you can post something and hours later get responses that are well thought out and sensible... I love DU. (Pockets the $20 bill Skinner just passed me, jk) but you have a lot of interesting ideas on this.

No I do not have any sortof email policy at my work. To be honest, it wasn't until 2004 or 2005 when my last boss retired that smoking was officially banned in my place of work. The old conservative who was the boss, chain smoked. He completely disregarded Oregon state law when they banned smoking in the workplace. I would come home reeking of cigarette smoke.. and I didn't smoke. And it wasn't a bar, it was an office. This is what I mean when I say, my workplace is BEHIND. My newer boss wants to completely avoid responsibility, he is content daytrading on his PC all day at work. Only time I hear from him is when his PC or the cable internet is down or he needs me to cover his ass on something.

Believe me, I am looking for another place to work. There isn't much out there. I'd rather work for myself than hate my boss this much. At least then, I can hate myself and look at myself in the mirror and if I anger, I can see who I'm cussing.

More than any responders, I feel you understand the best. Thanks. Nothing humbles a person faster than a job they hate.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. I guess we should get used to it.

Emails, racist jokes while at work, overhearing racist jokes in restaurants etc. etc. A friend of mine told me one of his co-workers was joking the other day about Michele Obama measuring the windows at the White House for foil paper. Racist SOB! :mad:

[BlooInBloo]

27. Advice? Wait for him to die.

[jeffrey_X]

28. Hit "reply all" and then add the rest of the company to the email...

and then just say that you'd rather not receive emails like this.

[scarletwoman]

29. I don't know -- it's probably best to just ignore it. But if you want to get a little dig in,

send a reply asking if the White House WASN'T "government housing" when the other 43 white guys were President.

Honestly, I can't imagine myself in your situation. I'm way too mouthy to ever survive around people like that.

In any case, there ARE Federal laws about harassment in the workplace. I'd look into those if you have no other recourse.

Wishing you the best,
sw

[msanthrope]

30. Oregon has a Civil Rights Division as part of

its Bureau of Labor and industry....it sounds like an intake officer will give you a relatively quick answer about this being actionable...if nothing else, I think you should document, document, document....

http://www.oregon.gov/BOLI/CRD/C_Crcompl.shtml#questionnaire

[sampsonblk]

31. Ask them when are they going to start supporting America. LOL

They are helping the terrorists by saying bad things about Obama.

[dooner]

32. I think you raise a really important issue

These racist emails are flying around the Internet like crazy. Most of us don't receive them because friends and relatives know who we voted for, but I have seen several different "jokes" forwarded by republican relatives. I don't find them funny. I don't think people are being consciously and overtly racist, but it is inappropriate, disgusting, and needs to stop.

I forwarded this article about the ugliness that has been bubbling up, and hope that it got through to my in-laws.

Election spurs 'hundreds' of race threats, crimes, Associated Press, November 15, 2008

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.
Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.

From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders. There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.

One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said.
She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iEyLuiVkdd-f1RM5wnoR0kF4WbvgD94FHP480