April 18, 2011 2:00 PM
Davenport, a Tea Party member and elected official of the County Republican party, sent an email to fellow party members in which Mr. Obama’s head is pasted on the body of a baby ape. The image also depicts two adult apes wearing human clothing – presumably referencing Mr. Obama’s parents. “Now you know why no birth certificate,” reads the accompanying text.
Davenport later apologized to recipients of the email in the event that she had offended anyone with the image, and denied the implication that the depiction was racist.
“I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth,” she wrote in an email. “In no way did I even consider the fact he’s half black when I sent out the email.”
“In fact, the thought never entered my mind until one or two other people tried to make this about race,” she added. “I received plenty of emails about [former president] George Bush that I didn’t particularly like yet there was no ‘cry’ in the media about them.”
When contacted by a reporter about the incident, Davenport brushed off the incident.
“Oh, come on!” she told the Weekly. “Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people-mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it.”
NATURALLY, ONLY PEOPLE WHO THINK AND ACT MUCH LIKE HERSELF….MMM…RACISTS. I LOVE THE “I HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE BLACK” LINE, ISN’T THAT THE CLASSIC RETORT?! ADDITIONALLY, MS.DAVENPORTS QUOTE, “I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama.” THIS SIMPLE STATEMENT MADE ME THINK ABOUT DR.MARTIN LUTHER KING’S “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH, WHEN HE ELOQUENTLY STATES THAT “I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by content of their character” (pg.219) EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT, THE MOST POWERFUL AND (hopefully, or at least often in the past) THE MOST RESPECTED INDIVIDUAL IN OUR COUNTRY, FOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE TODAY, WHITE SEES BLACK, AND BLACK SEES WHITE. THE “CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER” IS NOT HOW WE ARE INITIALLY ‘JUDGED’. RACE IS STILL THE PREVAILING FACTOR!
mdivelbiss 
Mike, I am so glad you posted this, my hubby and I were just talking about this crazy lady! She is obvously from Kansas haha! But what was she thinking?? It seems everytime she comments on this she is digging her an even bigger hole to get out of.
Mike, crazy story. It is common to hear individuals state they are not racist. My comment to her then what is she? Ignorant, uneducated, what excuse can you provide other than racist in depicting a person as an ape? Sadly, this occurs daily amongst students in school as well. They do not realize the consequence of their actions especially in regards to text messages, emails, or facebook entries. Individuals must really take into account before they hit send, what they are sending and if there message can be deemed to negatively influence the receiver. Has our society become desensitized by technology and the ease of communication? Does the internet make it easier for one to promote racist ideas, would she refer to a person as a “monkey” to their face? I doubt it.
ANTHONY, WHAT IS EVEN CRAZIER IS SHE IS THE LEADER OF A POLITICAL GROUP IN CALIFORNIA, AND AMUSINGLY, SEVERAL RIVALS WHO WANT HER POSITION ARE CALLING FOR HER RESIGNATION, BUT SO FAR NOTHING FROM HER BUT MEA-CULPAS. MIKE
While there are certainly racists in the Tea Party movement. I don’t think racism is a characteristic of the movement at large. I think it is a convenient way to discredit Tea Partiers’ legitimate arguments by using fringe people like this to paint the whome movement as racist. The fact is, most of these people are protesting large government and programs like the new health care law. These people fought equally as hard when Clinton was trying to enact government health care. Their complainst have nothing to do with the race of the president.
BRAD, RACE IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A SENSATIVE ISSUE. SO WHEN YOU PUT A MONKEYS HEAD ON A BLACK MAN, EXPECT TO BE CALLED A RACIST, BY THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE. ALSO, THE TEA PARTY HAS HAD BAD LUCK IN REGARDS TO BEING CALLED ‘RACIST’, BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS FREQUENTLY, THE PERSPECTIVE GOES BEYOND ‘BAD LUCK’, TO A PROBLEM! MIKE PS WHEN YOUR SPOKESMAN/WOMAN IS SARAH THE IDIOT, YOU DO NOT SERVE YOURSELF WELL. HAS THE DONALD JUMPED ON THE TEA PARTY BANDWAGON??