Buffalo pastor demands apology for alleged racist e-mails in Lew-Port

[Ladywriter 7,783]

The Buffalo News

The president of the Lewiston-Porter School Board has been forwarding racist and sexist e-mails to other board members, according to past and present colleagues on the board.

Board President Robert J. Weller regularly forwards what he considers to be humorous e-mail messages to a list of friends and fellow board members, current and former board members told The Buffalo News.

Among the e-mails:

• A photo of Barack Obama, depicted making a campaign promise to deliver jobs to “everyone who can work.” In the background of the doctored image is a group of African-Americans running away.

•A mock news release from the Detroit Police Department that claims the department will replace German shepherd police dogs with “coon dogs, due to the fact the city is not having any problems with Germans.”

• A doctored photo of Chelsea Clinton holding up a T-shirt that reads, “My mom is getting her ass kicked by a Negro.”

• A list of a dozen male chauvinist “jokes,” including an explanation that women have smaller feet to allow them “to stand closer to the kitchen sink,” and a woman’s broken watch shouldn’t be fixed because “there is a clock on the oven.”

Several newly elected, current and former board members complained to The News about the e-mails.

“It’s just not funny to be racist,” said board member-elect Wendy Swearingen. “It’s not a joke.”

Former board President Robert L. Laub, who served on the board with Weller, said he believes Weller should not be president of the School Board.

“The message is clear,” Laub said, “if you’re not white and Christian, in Bob Weller’s world, you don’t exist.”

In response to The News' report on the e-mails, the pastor of a prominent East Side Buffalo church said today he is organizing an e-mail campaign anong more than 3,000 congregants to persuade Weller to apologize or resign his post, and church members may attend the next Lewiston-Porter School Board meeting.

Weller, a Town of Porter resident, acknowledged sending the e-mails but said the messages do not mean he’s a racist. He also said he didn’t mean to offend anyone.

can you say fired? Naturally I'll help do what I can to see asshat fired.

send him a love note

President:

Robert Weller

3014 Creek Rd.

Youngstown, NY 14174

Email: rjw1937@yahoo.com

745-7749