In this week's edition of "Racism in Oklahoma," we take a look at the Henryetta-based "Oklahoma Wild Bunch Youth Rodeo Association."
Earlier this week, the Association's president, Ashley Cummings, resigned after a Tulsa TV station got ahold of some mean, poorly written, possibly racist text messages she sent to a group of rodeo clowns who vote for her.
Here are the details via Fox 23:
The Oklahoma Wild Bunch Youth Rodeo Association president (OWBYRA) has resigned.
Ashley Cummings reportedly fired off a text message to three of her workers after they skipped out on an event to go to the Tulsa Heritage Rodeo.
The text message included racial slur, and the president reportedly told them to go choke.
The text was circulated in the rodeo community, and many people say they are upset.
Okay, I actually don't know if the workers were rodeo clowns or not. I'm just trying to make this story more interesting, so let's pretend they are.
Here are the text messages:
That's not cool, but in all fairness to Ashley, people take this rodeo stuff very seriously. It takes a lot of time, work and general mistreatment of animals to organize and promote one correctly. People are going to take it personal when you ditch one for the other. You won't believe the text messages Marla Morgan sent to me when I ditched her "Sexy Swingin' Ropin' Couples Rodeo" for Emily Sutton's "Rainbow Barrel Run and Sunshine Jubilee." Let's just say they're private and I won't be sharing them.
Another thing Ashley has going for her is that she's part of the African-American community. At least that's what she said in her official apology:
"I sincerely apologize for my actions and poor word choice in the communication held between myself and three family members. As part of a bi-racial family, I understand the hurt and disgust that may be felt by many. Being part of the African-American race myself, I am not racist. My word choice was unprofessional and inappropriate. I accept full responsibility for my actions. I am very remorseful and sorry for the negative attention directed toward the OWBYRA and pray this does not affect them in a negative manner. It was a mistake and not a reflection of my true character. I have made the heartfelt decision to step down as the OWBYRA president effective immediately."
It doesn't excuse she told people to "choke on her food," but if Ashley's part of the African-American community, it is okay for her to drop an N-word in a text message and not be a racist... right? Isn't that how things still work?
