GREENFIELD — Mayor William Martin has condemned a second spate of racist email attacks against At-Large Town Councilor Penny Ricketts, saying the town will seek all legal means available to bring charges against the perpetrator.
Last weekend, a series of emails containing digitally altered photos of Ricketts, the Town Council’s lone black member, were sent to town department heads. The pictures had been altered to contain racist imagery.
“This blatant action of ridicule and demeaning speech is despicable and only reflects the perverted perceptions of the writer,” Martin wrote in a statement released Monday. “Elected officials can be verbally criticized, and often are, but in the absence of a constructive critical component of an issue, this is a criminal act on the surface and will be investigated as such.”
The Greenfield Police Department has been investigating the emails since they were first sent, and Martin wrote the town is partnering with other agencies to track down the sender.
Ricketts said another email was sent Friday evening to town employees, members of the Greenfield Business Association and local restaurants. It included two new pictures — one of her head superimposed on an ape’s body and another of her with a large bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
One of the original series showed Ricketts with a watermelon under her arm, another with a lip plate inside her mouth, resembling what might be worn by members of particular African tribes, and a third with her head superimposed on a photo of a line of African-American women, naked from the waist up, with a caption reading, “Republic of The Congo, Graduating Class, 1968.”
On Monday, an email was sent to town officials and Business Association members containing an image of Ricketts’ head on a servant’s body dressing Human Rights Commission Chairman Lewis Metaxas, whose head was superimposed over a woman’s body.
“I don’t think anyone is immune from racist imagery, racist attacks with a fallout associated with them,” Metaxas said in response to the image.
“I really just want everyone to keep forwarding it to the police because now it’s so out of control that I don’t know who’s going to get them,” Ricketts said. “It seems like they’re really expanding who in the community is getting them, and it just seems like they’re growing bigger and bigger, so it’s just better if everybody talks to the police directly now.”
Chief Robert Haigh Jr. previously told The Recorder the emails and images could be treated as hate crimes and his department is looking at them as threatening behavior.
“It’s just completely disgusting, really, and should be treated as strongly as we possibly can. It’s appalling,” he said.
The Human Rights Commission also released a statement Monday condemning the attacks and voicing support for Ricketts.
“She has been and is a valued colleague who has fought for equality, tolerance and compassion in all spheres of our local public life,” Metaxas wrote in the statement. “The fact that she is so obviously being targeted online by a racist individual or group is an outrage. … In the same week that she, as an African-American woman in our community, a councilor and a Human Rights commissioner, proffers a Resolution of Respect, to both the council and commission, for the benefit of our community. We shall not ever be divided. We are all united and we will see this ugly incident through together as we would for any citizen of the community victimized in this manner.”
Metaxas also said that the commission is researching resources and potential partners at both the federal and state government levels that may be able to help. More information will be presented at the commission’s July 11 meeting.
Over the past week, Ricketts said she’s been inundated with supportive phone calls, emails and Facebook messages.
“I knew people cared about me, but I didn’t know people were going to come out in droves like this,” she said. “I feel protected, too, I’m so glad there are so many people.”
On Saturday, she stood out on the Town Common with a sign thanking the community for its support. She said Northampton City Councilor Alisa Klein reached out to her, and many people from Hampshire County joined her on the Common.
“People are great, people would go park and come out and just hug me,” she said. “People kept driving by and going, ‘I love you, Penny.’”
In his statement, Martin wrote that Ricketts has demonstrated strength and grace throughout the incident and epitomizes the response required to neutralize the attack.
“I’m like, bring it on, nothing’s going to change. I’m still here,” Ricketts said.
You can reach Aviva Luttrell at: aluttrell@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268
On Twitter, @AvivaLuttrell