DOJ Defends Employee Comment that Mississippi Is ‘Disgusting and Shameful’
The United States Department of Justice has defended comments by an employee who called Mississippi “disgusting and shameful.” This same employee reviews photo voter identification laws throughout the south for approval from her position in the DOJ Voting Section.
PJ Media first reported on comments made by Voting Section employee Stephanie Gyamfi toward the citizens of Mississippi:
On her Facebook page, Voting Section supervisory civil rights analyst Stephanie Celandine Gyamfi says about the people of Mississippi:
“Disgusting and shameful. Hey, that should replace the state motto: ‘Mississippi: Disgusting and Shameful’. . . forget the Magnolia State motto.”
On Tuesday, Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann held a press conference in response to the PJ Media story and demanded that Gyamfi be removed from all reviews of state election laws under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Three Mississippi congressmen (Nunlee, Harper, and Palazzo), sent a letter to the DOJ demanding the same.
Voting Section Chief Christopher Herren on Tuesday said that the comments by Gyamfi were “personal” in nature. Yet then the resources of the Department of Justice were deployed to defend the comments.
“The department maintains Gyamfi is a respected employee.”
Justice Department officials told WLBT-TV in Mississippi that the comments were “taken out of context” and were defensible because they related to an ugly incident at the University of Southern Mississippi. During that incident, some students taunted an opposing Hispanic basketball player.
Of course Gyamfi’s comments were not confined to her opinions about the handful of Southern Mississippi students. No, the bigotry extended to all Mississippians. All of Mississippi was sufficiently “disgusting and shameful” to warrant replacing the state motto with “Mississippi: Disgusting and Shameful.”
The plain meaning of the comment is clear: broad contempt for Mississippi, not disgust at a few students.
In the Voting Section, these bigoted views are commonplace and my book Injustice details other instances of contemptuous administration of justice.
I never thought the DOJ would take inconsistent and indefensible positions that promise to make the attitudes of DOJ Voting Section employees toward southerners an ongoing story.
Eric Holder’s Justice Department can’t have it both ways. Either the comments are personal comments, or they aren’t. If they are worthy of an active defense from DOJ, then the DOJ better be prepared to defend the full inventory of online racialism and bigotry toward states covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, even if the comments were made merely by employees.
The reason this is relevant is that these same employees have enormous power over southern states, and perceptions about the citizens of those states color their official actions. Ask South Carolina and Texas how they feel about the fairness of the DOJ review process for their voter identification laws.
I believed this would be a one or two day story. I never imagined the United States Department of Justice would, on one hand, say the comments were merely “personal” and therefore beyond the reach of discipline and, on the other hand, very officially defend comments as understandable in context.
The ill-advised and inconsistent reaction by DOJ to Hosemann’s press conference is especially surprising given the fact the disdain expressed on Facebook did not stop at the Mississippi state line. It extended also into Alabama and contained disparaging views toward the citizens of Alabama. Nor did the outrageous online behavior limit itself to disparaging remarks about Alabama and Mississippi on Facebook.
Again, I presumed this was a one or two day story. Apparently the Department of Justice, in an effort to defend the indefensibly bigoted views of some employees, is itching to have more on-line laundry aired about the employees who work overtime to block voter ID across the country.
For a refresher on the radicalism of some of these employees, be sure to read the Pulitzer-nominated PJ Media Every Single One series installment on the radical biographies of some Voting Section employees.
Also be sure to read Hans von Spakovsky, who reports on even more disturbing events at the DOJ Voting Section.
Well, it looks like it is about time to shut down the Justice Dept.
Amen!
This just another example of the arrogrance of Holder and his department. As the position of the chief of the DOJ Holder can and has been doing just as he wishes. Who is there to arrest him for crimes. And he has commited quite a few, concidering the fact that he has refused to prosecute Blacks guilty of crimes. on several occasions. By stated openly that he will not prosecute those of his race. I can’t wait untill Issa issues a Comtempt of Congress citation. Guess what? He will just probably ignore it.
The contempt of Congress can’t be ignored. Can’t even be vetoed by the administration.
Get on with it Issa.
from Wiki:
“In 1821, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Anderson v. Dunn,[1] which held that Congress’ power to hold someone in contempt was essential to ensure that Congress was “… not exposed to every indignity and interruption that rudeness, caprice, or even conspiracy, may mediate against it.”[2] The historical interpretation that bribery of a senator or representative was considered contempt of Congress has long since been abandoned in favor of criminal statutes. In 1857, Congress enacted a law which made “contempt of Congress” a criminal offense against the United States.”
And thus, the charge is very weighty and cannot be avoided or ignored. Holder has been guilty of non-cooperation with Issa’s investigative committee. If he plans on playing the race card, it will summarily fall flat and I suspect that a great many democrats will let him burn. Some, in that ridiculous fashion that politicos have, may actually tell journalists that “they warned him not to delay and to cooperate”. This of course, to make themselves look squeaky clean. I’ll bet Sharpton will be one of the first to speak up like that, if not the very first.
Can’t shut it down yet. The Justice Department isn’t done investigating Fast and Furious.
hahaha… sorry, I can’t even say that with a straight face.
Gyamfi’s comment is quite clear. The usual context defense is not helpful. There is no context defense possible. The statement condemns the state.
This is standard fare for Holder’s Department of Injustice, just as it is standard fare that in his department racism is a one way street where the direction of travel is always against whites, no matter the evidence of racism being practiced by others. It’s congenital with this AG, remember he thinks we’re all cowards.
The only solution lies in an election rebuke that sends Holder and his boss to the $50,000 per speech circuit.
Mankind has yet to invent a technology that could begin to measure my contempt for Eric Holder. History will remember him for his bigotry, unyielding bias, and for Agent Terry’s murder, for which he is directly responsible. I hope he’s proud of himself.
Holder and his employees are punks. Anyone who continues to work for this sorry excuse for a human being ought to be ashamed of themselves.
“I hope he’s proud of himself.”
He is. Remember, “white boy got it comin” from Holder’s Peeps…for some reason….
Not just any punks but very dangerous ones. That’s why Issa needs to quickly make the contempt citation for Fast and Furious a formal one. And Boehner needs to stop being a CLOSET COWARD and tell the rest of the GOP to get on board!
Well, the choice is clear: if the DOJ can no longer be trusted, then trust has to be institutionalized, standards of conduct set forth, and with voluntary and swift remedies as part of the package.
The DOJ has to be reined in and some oversight established that will prevent them from indiscriminately bludgeoning or ignoring issues based on politics, and using their considerable financial resources to pummel people and groups into acceptance of their agenda.
Currently, they are a runaway racist train which has a lot in common with the Southern Poverty Law Center. When recently asked in a phone interview about monitoring groups like the New Black Panther Party, the SPLC replied they were not set up to monitor such groups on the Left. In other words, they are fundamentally constructed and funded with the tacit and de facto understanding that they are not interested in justice, but in a race-based justice – this is the DOJ.
High trust, low trust, no trust. We get to witness the consequences of the deliberate destruction of a high-trust society and its devolution to a no-trust one. Essential if you’re trying to take a free republic down to the nightmare of a North Korean-like state where people are managed like cattle.
Francis Fukuyama, white courtesy telephone. There’s a lot that Fukuyama got wrong, but not in this case.
Bigots are bigots. This one happens to be black, but that makes no difference.
Agreed, “that” makes no difference, but the fact this one is a government employee and is being supported in her bigotry by the DOJ puts this in a light of it’s own. There has never been a more bigoted, hate filled DOJ since reconstruction.
This woman needs to be fired. It is that simple. She has no business working for the Deartment of Justice. Her prior perjury was discussed in detail by Hans von Spakovsky and now her prejudices have been exposed by Christian Adams. Readers of this site should email their elected leaders in Washington and demand her removal. And it wouldn’t hurt to cc Gyamfi so she feels the pressure as well. (stephanie.m.gyamfi@usdoj.gov)
I don’t have a facebook account. If I did, I certainly wouldn’t post comments about specific work issues. First off, it is clearly unprofessional. Secondly, it could get me fired. Apparently leftist bureaucrats don’t have to worry about looking unprofessional or getting fired.
“I don’t have a facebook account.”
Me neither. I figured it was because I was an adult, then I looked up what other adults do with this teenage girls toy, and decided it was because I have a modicum if dignity.
BINGO!
Worked for the feds for 26 years – there is no way that posting such comments on Facebook is not squarely against policy. For Justice to defend such comments will have serious negative consequences for those decision-makers.
But then Holder seems a fan of Thelma and Louise anyway.
Let’s see a few weeks ago a 10-year Marine veteran was discharged for his impolitic Facebook posting because he was in the military which is part of the government. So isn’t working for the DOJ part of the government? Therefore shouldn’t this numbnut be fired?
I am sure though that the defenders, including the author, will say there is a difference between the two which is like redefining the word “is”. The left always gets the benefit of any doubt or gray area. Also she is probably in one or more of the government’s protected classes.
I agree with SAmizdat, but I would add the same goes for the president. There is no measure that would tell how evil I think he is. He can’t get rid of holder because holder knows what “evil lurks in the hearts of” well the white house. He knows what 0b0z0 has done with his signing statements that won’t really be revealed until he is voted out of office, so they have to hold on and maybe do a chavez on the U.S.
We hae to get rid of them all, all the czars, all the white house staff, the entire department of justice, the TSA and big sis. Oh, my gosh, they all have to go.
Her comments were “personal”? Of course they were. Bias, racism, prejudice, and bigotry are all personal attitudes. The problem is that they influence professional judgment.
What’s disgusting and shameful is the out of control criminality of Mississippi blacks.
What a coinkydink….I’ve been thinking the same thing about the DOJ for over 3 yrs now
We have been warned time and time again about the threat to America. The truth is, the threat is already in place. An executive office that would rather issues fiats than govern A justice department filled with racist cronies. A department of homeland security that has politicized each and every issue before its domain with shameless abandon. AN all encumbering health department which has bypassed the constitution. Add that wit a Senate that is controlled by evil and a house that is moving too slowly and you have a set up for disaster. Does anyone think that these evil people will give up their power? They have lied consistently and have no motivation to stop. This will be the first time in our history where we face the loss of a peaceful transition of government. They honestly can’t allow the grownups to take back over because there will be some nasty spanking going on. Build more jails.
Ms. Gyamfi is UNTOUCHABLE. Black, female, Democrat AND government employee.
The same woman perjured herself 3 TIMES recently with NO repercussions whatsoever:
http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/22/report-doj-employee-admits-to-perjuring-herself-3-times-holder-keeps-her-employed/
Yet broach these factoids to ANY Illiberal and they’ll wave it off.
If this is the law of the land I’m waiting for former USMC Meteorologist Sgt. Stein who’d been given an, ‘Other than honorable’ discharge for writing posts on his FB account ( in which his comments too were, ‘personal’) to be reinstated to the USMC and ALL blemishes be removed from his record.
Oops, that’s right. Sgt, Stein is White Male, more than likely a Republican and former government employee.
Double standards.. carry on.
Damn. Should have read further for you spot. Sorry.
Further evidence that the administrative-review portions of the Voting Rights Act are not only no longer necessary, but factually counterproductive. However, timing is everything: more examples of DOJ malpractive must be brought into the sunlight, in sufficiently quick succession to obtain a sense of momentum, and THEN the legislation to modify the VRA should be proposed. Such legislation should probably leave cover for those honestly concerned about racism in voting practices – but set new thresholds for review well below the experience of the thousands of jurisdictions now voting fairly, with provision to extinguish even this level of review where not significantly needed or where the need is not mitigated by equivalent local/state efforts, within some time certain, maybe four years… (Gradualism with teeth!)
“I never thought the DOJ would take inconsistent and indefensible positions…”
Really? I never expected them to do anything but. I am not remotely surprised by this; it is exactly what I would expect from Obama and Holder’s DOJ.
If the DOJ thinks MS “disgusting and shameful”, then you know the state is doing something right…anyway this sounds more like what is called “projection”, as that description to me fits the DOJ more aptly.
Gyamfi is well known in the division for her views on Hispanics and Asians (don’t deserve same protections as blacks), Christians (hate them), and Republicans (hate them more). No one in the division should be surprised by her views, it’s what she’s been saying to her coworkers and bosses for years. And no one should be surprised she wrote this on a web page, she has already been caught committing perjury for lying about such stuff. How much fun will her testimony be?
The entire administration is disgusting and shameful, chock full of contradictory and expedient use of language. Half the population, unfortunately, can’t or won’t navigate the labyrinth of nonsense that they continually propound as the higher mindedness of the demo party.
What was Ms. Gyamfi’s reaction to the booing by Mexican-American spectators at the Los Angeles Coliseum directed towards the U.S. Soccer Team in a match against Team Mexico?
Were their actions also “disgusting and shameful”?
It’s too bad that equal protection under the law has been replaced, at the Department of Justice, with unprincipled selective outrage.
And now we see that DOJ prosecution of investment and banking fraud is at a 20 year low – in the wake of the financial meltdown.
The first reaction to this kind of information is outrage. But this outrage stems from our expectation that things should be a certain way and then being shown that they aren’t. Expectations hamper the ability to see things as they are, and to me that is the important thing. Look and learn. DOJ has told us Ms. Gyamfi is a valued and trusted employee, and we should believe them. This means that, in DOJ, ideology trumps competence; perjury to promote your agenda is not condemnable, it is heroic. Having read “Injustice”, I now know that DOJ is ideologically driven; they are willing to be dishonest; they will engage in cover ups; their prosecution patterns will reflect ideology rather than the rule of law; and they will attempt to appear fair only when driven to it by public opinion and only so they can continue pursuing their agenda. With this in mind, they are quite predictable.
This isn’t the first time that Stephanie Gyamfi has been in the news. I remember coming across her name and photo a year or so ago, again regarding something controversial, though I can’t recall exactly what it was. Unfortunately, I don’t have time today to track it down…
How can anyone work for the US DOJ these days and still look in the mirror in the morning?
It’s easy, they believe what they believe. Once one understands what they believe it all becomes crystal clear. The Nazis believed in what they were doing, I mean, this is nothing new and the DoJ is nothing more than a corrupt and criminal government office.
But you and I know that, just sharing…
I’m from Mississippi (lived there the first 22 years – family is still there).
As a private sector employee I can be held accountable (and fired) for anything I post on Facebook. Why should the DOJ be any different? This bites!!!
Check this one.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/22/report-doj-employee-admits-to-perjuring-herself-3-times-holder-keeps-her-employed/
The DOJ is a shameless tool staffed by ideologues who are not interested in pursuing crime or corruption, especially on Wall Street or the banking industry. Instead they focus on things such as states that try to exercise their rights and pointless athletes like Roger Clemens. And why should they? The DoJ is run by Eric Holder, a self serving and dishonest political creature who earned his bones as an assassin back in 1998 helping to crucify Brooksly Born, then chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC]who tried to warn of the coming financial meltdown. It’s no wonder that the DoJ’s record under his command has been abysmal. He and Timothy Gaithner both have a long record of shielding people like Lehman brothers and the result of which is our last Wall Street go’round. These things were preventable but thanks to the contributions of snakes like Holder, Gaithner, and Greenspan it all came home to roost. Don’t let that innocent and stupid look on his face fool you, the man is a tool, a liar, and a criminal.
There is apparently no division of Mr. Obama’s Justic Department which has not been politicized beyond the point where it is able to enforce the law equitably.
Mr. Holder appears not to be running “the peoples’ law firm,” as the DOJ has been, until these days, rightly called. Rather, he is running a political hit squad in aid of the Obama campaign. At 66 years of age, I have seen a number of
Presidents come and go. Some have been good, one was great, and some have been pretty bad. Tis is the first one yet to wage open and unabashed war on his own country.
Why aren’t we hearing more about Mr. Holdrer’s impeachment prcoess?
On this sing point alone is enough for any clear-thinking person to NEVER VOTE FOR OBAMA.
this sing point alone is enough for any clear-thinking person to NEVER VOTE FOR OBAMA.
Obama and his America hating minion will be gone soon, the November 6th Election will be a referendum on all the haters in the Obama Administration. It will be a pleasure to pull the lever to rid our country of their ilk!
Oh, how wrong you are. They will never be gone even we take the WH and Senate. They control the workings of the government like the DOJ. Prez would have to fire everyone-and we know a white GOP prez would never do that…. But perhaps we could defund them if we controlled both houses. Still they are everywhere.
A loss in November will only make them more violent and anti-American and anti-White American. So there is only one recourse left at this point.
This one issue is why Romney will be a disaster. He will do NOTHING to root out this corruption.
My grandfather told me that you can tell the quality of a man by the quality of his enemies. As an Alabamian, being hated by the Leftist filth at DOJ makes me feel pretty good about myself.
Mississippian’s; wear that “slur” from this DOJ P.O.S. as a “badge of honor”.
“Don’t let that innocent and stupid look on his face fool you, the man is a tool, a liar, and a criminal.”
And those are his good points…..
If the comments are personal, how are they different to the Marine who didn’t like Obama?
You can’t disagree with the Commander in Chief, but you can slander a whole state?
My sentiment exactly. I stated ~ the same comment a tad earlier.
Ms. Gyamfi also perjured herself 3 TIMES this past Winter alone.. and received NO punishment whatsoever.
Though Ms Gyamfi is Black, female, Democrat AND a government employee. There’s NO repercussions!
Look at our A G. The Marc Rich and terrorist pardons during the Clinton years and he’s up to his neck in F&F, Voter I.D., Trayvon Martin investigation (?), suing AZ’s Joe Arpaio, blocking significant portions of LEGALLY passed immigration laws in AZ, AL, etc., and he’s STILL enjoying his taxpayer provided paycheck. Good times..
Look, I’m not going to blame liberals for being bigoted against the South. That’s been the state of play since the 1830s. No, I blame both Bushes and the Republican legislators who have voted again and again to extend the VRA. They are the villains, they are the ones with no cojones. The VRA which is based on the 14th amandmment is now in clear violation of the 14th amandment (equal protection under the law). And not only that, what are they afraid of? Losing the southern black vote?
A politicized Department of Justice endangers the integrity of our government. If the criminal branch of government is corrupt we and our whole political system are in danger.
Why is she still at DOJ even though she committed a crime? Because that crime was committed to protect others in her office, including attorneys (who share her views). How else do you explain DOJ’s protection racket? Mark my words, you’ll know how high her co-conspirators go by how long she is allowed to stay there. Time for some oversight!
I’ve never been to Mississippi. I don’t know what it’s like there, or what its people are like.
I HAVE been well acquainted with federal bureaucracies, in various forms.
I know where my vote for “disgusting and shameful” goes.
Wasn’t there another dispute awhile back when it came out that this same voting rights section would never prosecute any case of voting rights abuse, no matter how abusive or egregious the case was, if the perpetrators were black, or the victims were white? To me this is the real example of “disusting and shameful bigotry and racism”.
“Respected”… by whom, Holder the Liar? This shouldn’t be allowed to be tossed down the memory hole by the gutless, tanked MSM. As with the news about Obama’s EPA leadership’s plan to “crucify” businesses, that did ultimately lead to a body under the bus, it should be repeated loudly in every venue available. And shouldn’t the RNC & Romney Campaign be showing voters this and other similar crap – every day of the week & twice on Sunday?
Mark V, #36 — come visit sometime,just not in July or August.
Yes, we’re so racist and disgusting. Both my next door neighbors are white, so that tells you how racist and disgusting I am. (Never mind the black family behind me and the mixed-race couple across the street, or my black mayor and black police chief and black school superintendent.) And I’m SURE I have some shoes around here someplace.
Her comments were “personal.” Oh, just like the Marine Sgt who was mustered out with an OTH (Other Than Honorable) discharge which will haunt him for the rest of his life. Why? Because he expressed “personal” comments regarding being under Obama as commander in chief. This administration is really turning into a domestic terrorist group, and freedoms will spill like a waterfall when obama has “more flexibility” in a second term.