From the Richmond Times Dispatch:
Public employees in Cumberland, Virginia are in big trouble over a joke many would consider racist. The joke deals with someone getting divorced and …well…let’s let the TD, as they call it further south, tell the story:
A racist joke that recently made its rounds via e-mail in Cumberland government offices is causing a stir in the rural county.
The forwarded joke about a hillbilly farmer seeking a divorce uses the term “nagger” in reference to an African-American baby.
According to e-mail records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, the joke was sent to the county’s general registrar, Marlene Watson, on May 29. On June 1, Watson forwarded it to several others, including some county employees, with a note reading, “Too cute!!”
Two days later, Judy Marion, a Sheriff’s Office secretary, passed the joke along to all 24 county administration employees and Sheriff Darrell Hodges, among others.
Later that day, upon receiving the joke, County Administrator Judy Ownby issued a sharp rebuke by e-mail to all county employees, calling the e-mail “regrettable.”
She attached a copy of the county’s e-mail policy, which states that “inappropriate e-mail” is subject to disciplinary actions. It also recommends: “Treat every e-mail message as something that could end up on the front page of the Times-Dispatch.”
