Orange County GOP Official Sends Email Depicting Obama as Chimpanzee, Refuses to Resign

Marilyn Davenport, an elected member of the Orange County (California) Republican Party central committee and Tea Party activist, sends an email to fellow Republican Party members on April 16, 2011 depicting Barack Obama's face photoshopped onto the body of a baby chimpanzee, flanked by two adult chimpanzees dressed in human clothing. The caption reads: "Now you know why no birth certificate." The email fuses the birther conspiracy with the centuries-old racist trope of comparing Black people to apes, a dehumanizing comparison used by slave traders and segregationists. The OC Weekly publishes the email after receiving it from a Republican who forwards it in outrage. Davenport tells the paper it is "just an Internet joke" and asks, "You're not going to make a big deal about this are you?" Orange County Republican Party chairman Scott Baugh calls the image "dripping with racism" and demands her resignation. Davenport refuses, issuing an apology only "if my email offended anyone." She retains her party position.