Sandra Bradley, an administrative assistant working in the office of Morehouse College President Robert Franklin, was fired this week after an email she sent via work containing derogatory remarks about a couple's gay wedding photos was brought to the attention of school officials.
Said Bradley in the email:
pictures and they look like a few brothers I've seen in the streets
looking STRAGHT. Black women can't get a break, either our men want
another man, a white woman (or other nationality that's light with
straight hair), they are locked up in jail or have a 'use to be' fatal
disease. I'm beginning to believe Eve was a black woman and we Black
women are paying for all the world's sins through her actions (eating
the apple),"
The AP reports: "Morehouse president Dr. Robert M. Franklin released a statement about
the incident Thursday and said the school has a no-tolerance position
on discrimination."
Here's the statement:
(September 28, 2009) were the personal views of one individual and do
not reflect the values or policies of Morehouse College. Morehouse
College has a no-tolerance position on discrimination, including
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and the College has
taken great strides toward building a diverse and tolerant community.
After investigating the matter, the College has disciplined the persons
involved in the incident, and one of the implicated employees is no
longer with the College. In addition, the College has reminded its
staff that the Morehouse e-mail system is College property, should be
safeguarded as any other College property, and that e-mails that are
discriminatory, inflammatory, or derogatory to any group are prohibited
at the College."
Morehouse College President Robert Franklin sent a letter to the entire college community:
"It is my sincere hope that the gay and lesbian community, and most
specifically Michael Cole Smith and Jamil Smith Cole—whose wedding
photographs became the subject of an unkind and intolerant email sent
and forwarded by a Morehouse College employee—will accept my official
apology on behalf of the College community.
"Morehouse College—the institution where Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., one of our nation's premier champions of human and civil rights,
was nurtured—has a history of promoting tolerance and inclusion for all
people. Remarks such as the ones made in the e-mail were counter to Dr.
King's—and the College's—core values and will not be tolerated from any
Morehouse employee or student. Effective September 30, the employee who
made the offensive comments is no longer working for the College.
"I will continue to emphasize to the Morehouse community the
message that was shared during an April town hall meeting: On the
matter of diversity, Morehouse is committed to being a respectful
campus that balances personal liberty with the responsibility of
membership in a moral community. This has been and always will be a
community dedicated to promoting respect and tolerance between
heterosexuals and homosexuals. We encourage everyone to aspire to high
ethical standards and we demand responsible community behavior. Those
who cannot embrace the Morehouse code of ethics will be sanctioned
accordingly."
Michael Cole Smith and Jamil Smith
Cole were married on September 13 in Minneapolis, according to the Southern Voice: "The two met at Atlanta's Black Gay Pride in 2007 while Jamil was
living in Detroit. Jamil re-located to Minneapolis, where Michael has
lived for 20 years, and the two own their own hair salon. They posted the pictures on their Facebook page, and someone
apparently downloaded them and started the email chain. The pictures
have turned up on a dozen African American blogs, where the comments
are often hurtful and
homophobic."
