hot document: Primary sources exposed and explained.

Racist Secret Service E-Mails

hot document
entries
12345
from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Monday, May 12, 2008, at 3:29 PM ET

A discrimination lawsuit filed by African-American employees against the Secret Service has dragged on for more than eight years, prompting the plaintiffs to accuse the government's lawyers of dragging their feet. Last week, a batch of racist internal e-mails written to or by "at least 20" high-ranking agency supervisors was released by the government weeks after a court-imposed deadline. Samples of the e-mails (see below and the following four pages) demonstrate why the agency might have been reluctant to turn them over.

In 2003, Daniel Paulson, a Secret Service assistant director in the Office of Government Liaison and Public Affairs, sent a "Harlem Spelling Bee" (see below) to several recipients, including a deputy assistant director who has since retired. The e-mail contained mock "vocabulary words" from an imaginary fifth-grade "Ebonics homework assignment." Example: "Hotel—I gave my girlfriend crabs, and the hotel everybody." Another 2003 e-mail joked about killing the Rev. Jesse Jackson (Page 2); a third made joking reference to lynchings and large male genitalia (Page 3); and a fourth, this one from 2005, related a joke about robot golf caddies that, when painted black, "didn't show up for work … filed for welfare, and … robbed the pro shop" (Page 4). This last was sent to the head of the Cleveland field office.

Meanwhile, in an exchange between the "Special Agent in Charge of the Dignitary Protective Division and a former GS-14 Special Agent," the two Secret Servicemen complained that "reverse racism and political correctness are destroying every aspect of American life" (Page 5).

Send ideas for Hot Document to . Please indicate whether you wish to remain anonymous.

hot document
entries
12345
from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Monday, May 12, 2008, at 3:29 PM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
Bonnie Goldstein is a former special investigator to the U.S. Senate and investigative producer for ABC News.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post