Head of Buffalo congregation speaks on racist, sexist e-mails
Some people still don’t ‘get it,’ pastor tells Lew-Port board
LEWISTON — The pastor of a Baptist church in Buffalo said Tuesday night that there are still some people who don’t “get it” when it comes to the revelation of racist and sexist e-mails sent to colleagues by the head of the Lewiston-Porter School Board.
The Rev. Darius G. Pridgen of True Bethel Baptist Church also said he hopes that the recent revelation of forwarded e-mails sent by board President Robert J. Weller shows the amount of work left to be done with regard to race relations in the United States.
Speaking before the board, district administrators and about 50 members of the public, Pridgen said the controversy highlights both the actions and inactions of some individuals. At the same time, he said, the issue should not be seen as “a battle” between himself and Weller.
“We must be sensitive to the hurts and concerns of others, not to just put them off and look for excuses,” Pridgen said, “but to really embrace and hear their heart before speaking our mind.”
Weller forwarded e-mails with racist and sexist overtones to fellow board members and friends last year, and came under fire for those actions from several current, former and future board members who questioned them in a Buffalo News article June 7.
One of the messages Weller forwarded was a photo of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, depicted making a campaign promise to deliver jobs to “everyone who can work.” In the background of the doctored image is a group of African- Americans running away.
Another message was a mock news release from the Detroit Police Department claiming that the department will replace German shepherd police dogs with “coon dogs, due to the fact the city is not having any problems with Germans.”
Another e-mail had a list of a dozen male chauvinist “jokes,” including an explanation that women have smaller feet to allow them “to stand closer to the kitchen sink,” and a woman’s broken watch shouldn’t be fixed because “there is a clock on the oven.”
Pridgen did take issue with an e-mail response written by board member Keith M. Fox, which he said requested that both Pridgen and his congregation let Lew-Port officials handle the matter quietly.
“You had the opportunity to quietly take action before we ever arrived,” Pridgen said. “Quiet actions should have been taken through diversity training. Quiet actions should have pulled the coattails of board members and reminded them of their responsibility to set an example for our children. Quiet action should have occurred before noisy action occurred that we did not start.”
Last week, Weller said he apologized for the e-mails, saying they were intended for “a so-called inner circle of friends, and I apologize that that friend leaked it out to the news.”
Tuesday night, Weller spoke with members of the media and issued a written statement, in which he said he “exercised poor judgment” and “will not do it again.”
The statement read, in part, “I would like to once again apologize and say how sorry I am to anyone whom I have offended by forwarding some private political satire to six friends of mine on the board.”
His statement continued, “If I had intended it to hurt anyone and use it in a destructive way, I would have sent it to many more people.”
Weller continued to maintain he is not racist, and called the entire matter a misunderstanding.
“We all have the same blood; we all are a spirit; we have a soul; we live in a body,” Weller said. “This is our shell, and I don’t care what color it is.”
Pridgen, who met with Weller earlier Tuesday and had spoken with him previously on several occasions, said his intent was not to vilify anyone on the board, and again thanked Weller for his apology.
Pridgen was not present to receive Weller’s written statement or hear his comments.
Two members of the public addressed the board about the e-mails, including district resident Sarah Waechter.
Waechter, who said she has two daughters in the district, told the board she was offended for them.
“I don’t understand how a board member finds it OK, even justifiable, to forward such tasteless jokes to professional colleagues,” she said.
School Superintendent R. Christopher Roser, who called Pridgen’s remarks “thought-provoking” and “powerful,” said the district administration, in collaboration with its attorneys and a board member, had prepared a statement to be read at the meeting, but decided to wait to release it after listening to Pridgen.
“Anything we had prepared to say, we didn’t want to say,” Roser said. “I think he said it all.”
Pridgen said that he hopes the district makes diversity training mandatory and that the matter leads to a greater understanding for all involved.
“I think what hopefully began as possibly poor judgment,” Pridgen said, “ends in good leadership and as an example to children and youth and to adults all over this country.”
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