An e-mail circulated by Baltimore police officers and obtained by The Examiner has outraged City Council leaders and spurred an internal investigation within the department.
Police spokesman Matt Jablow said the department?s Equal Opportunity Employment Compliance section was investigating the e-mail after it received it on Tuesday.
The e-mail was allegedly sent by a white officer to officers on both the department command staff and an Internal Affairs detective, according to a police source.
The e-mail appears to be a joke written as a religious parable, but it is “filled with racial slurs,” Council Member Kenneth Harris said.
“This e-mail is denigrating to African-Americans and an insult as well to people of faith,” said Harris, D-4th District, who is calling for an independent investigation into the department.
“I am outraged,” he said.
The e-mail recounts a conversation between God and the devil about “negros” causing problems in heaven, and includes the angel Gabriel telling God that heaven is filled with “watermelon seeds.”
Harris said the e-mail requires an immediate inquiry from an outside body.
“I?ve asked the [police department?s] Community Relations board to investigate,” he said.
“Dehumaniz[ing] people on paper makes it easier to dehumanize them on the street, and also give the appearance of unfair treatment to African-American citizens who are being arrested …” Harris said.
Harris sent a memo to Commissioner Leonard Hamm aswell as to the community relations board head, Alvin Gillard, Tuesday requesting an immediate investigation.
Gillard said he was waiting for more information before starting his investigation.
Council Member James Kraft, who also has seen the e-mail, was outraged as well.
“This is totally beyond acceptable behavior,” said Kraft, D-1st District.
Jablow said in a written statement that the police department will conduct a thorough investigation.
“Although the e-mail in question did not originate at the police department, the matter is now being thoroughly investigated,” he said.
Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of the Baltimore Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the e-mail requires a response from city leaders.
“This shows there is a culture of racism in the police department, and I expect every political leader to show outrage,” Cheatham said.
“If all of them don?t speak out, then they?re part of the problem.”
