Obama (Head) Secret Service Agent Tied to Sex (Racist) Joke (yikes)

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: NY Times

A Secret Service supervisor who until recently was a leader of Senator Barack Obama’s security detail sent several colleagues an e-mail message in 2005 that included a crude sexual joke about blacks and American Indians, according to documents disclosed last week as part of a lawsuit by black Secret Service agents.

The supervisory agent, Victor Erevia, sent the Jan. 26, 2005, e-mail message to five other Secret Service supervisors with what he described as a “joke,” one that referred to “popular myths of sexuality” and ridiculed several racial and religious groups. It appears that Mr. Erevia was not the author of the joke, but shared the message after it had been sent to him.

Eric Zahren, a Secret Service spokesman, said on Wednesday that while the agency did not condone offensive material, the e-mail message was “apparently an attempt at humor” and should be viewed in that context.

At the time of the message, Mr. Erevia was an assistant agent in charge of the agency’s office in Atlanta. Later, he was assigned as one of three “detail leaders” to protect Mr. Obama during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Erevia has since been promoted to head the agency’s technical security division.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/washington/15inquire.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=login