09 Nov 2012
Map of the Location Quotients for Post Election Racist Tweets
“Another 4 years of this (N-word),” Denise Helms wrote. “Maybe he will get assassinated this term.”
“The assassination part is kind of harsh,” Helms said. “I’m not saying I’d go do that or anything like that, by any means, but if it was to happen I don’t think I’d care one bit.”
FOX40 asked her to clarify.
“Really? It wouldn’t bug you if someone assassinated the president?” FOX40 asked.
“Well, it’s not something I would dwell on. It’s not something I would be upset about,” Helms responded.
The Washington, D.C. bureau of the Secret Service told FOX40 that all threats, or perceived threats, are taken seriously and investigated, but did not comment further.
Helms doesn’t think her words were threatening.
“I don’t understand what I did wrong. I didn’t say, ‘Hey, someone go do this,’” Helms told FOX40.
Helms also said that, despite using a racial slur, she doesn’t consider herself racist.
Legally, Helms probably won’t get in trouble for her comments. If the Secret Service perceives her as a credible threat, she faces a Class D felony charge.
Meanwhile Jezebel reports that there was an abundance of hate speech on Twitter after Obama’s reelection, with people hurling violent and racial epithets. Many of those tweeters were teenagers whose public Twitter accounts feature their real names and advertise their participation in the sports programs at their respective high schools. Calls were placed to the principals and superintendents of those schools to find out how calling the president—or any person of color, for that matter—a “nigger” and a “monkey” jibes with their student conduct code of ethics. Click here to see the interactive map of racist remarks.
We contacted their school’s administrators with the hope that, if their educators were made aware of their students’ ignorance, perhaps they could teach them about racial sensitivity. Or they could let them know that while the First Amendment protects their freedom of speech, it doesn’t protect them from the consequences that might result from expressing their opinions. (For example, an adult woman is currently being investigated by the Secret Service for calling President Obama a “nigger” and suggesting he be assassinated on her Facebook page.)
Additionally, several of the teens use imagery of their high schools’ sports teams on their Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. If nothing else, it’s reasonable to alert administrators to the behavior of the students who are publicly representing their schools.
Read more on Jezebel…
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