CNN is reporting that Robert Copeland, a police commissioner in New Hampshire who unapologetically used a racial slur when referring to the President, has decided to resign from office. The town of Wolfeboro, NH, with a population slightly over 6,000, was caught up in a heated national story when it was revealed that Copeland had called President Obama “that f***ing n*gger” at a local restaurant in March. When confronted about it by a local paper two months later, he did not deny using the slur and claimed that the President “meets and exceeds my criteria for such.”
After The Granite State News ran Copeland’s letter, which was in response to a resident of the town who objected to the police commissioner publicly espousing his racist views, residents of the town demanded Copeland’s resignation. the story made national headlines, as it was just another example of an old (Copeland is 82) white man saying hatefully racist things about blacks. His racist behavior seemed to fall right in line with what we saw from Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling.
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Prior to and during the town meeting that was held last week where dozens of residents called for Copeland’s resignation, the town’s two other police commissioners said they would not force Copeland to abdicate his position. Instead, they said they’d speak privately with him but allow him to make the decision himself. This was seen by some of the residents as an endorsement of Copeland’s views and an effort by the other two to protect Copeland. The meeting itself was very heated, with the vast majority of speakers publicly denouncing Copeland’s comments and asking for him to leave his position. Only two spoke in his defense.
Below is video of the meeting in its entirety, courtesy of GovernmentOversite.com:
On Sunday, former Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney called for Copeland to resign, when he released the following statement, per CNN:
“The vile epithet used and confirmed by the commissioner has no place in our community: He should apologize and resign.”
Perhaps that was the final straw for Copeland. When the guy that you voted for in 2012, who also spends a lot of time in New Hampshire, thinks you should resign, then there is really nothing left for you to do but send in your letter and go away. That is what Copeland did on Monday. I am sure most of the town is saying, “Good riddance!”
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
