Ex-Secret Service Agent Details 'Shockingly' Racist Abuse Endured By Michelle Obama

[Nevilledog]

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Sona C. ~ Spotlight 💙✌️
@NycsonaPryanka
A former Secret Service agent has detailed the racist abuse that was leveled at Michelle Obama during her time as first lady, and her frustration and inability as an assigned protector to do anything about it. 🤦🏽‍♀️🤬

https://huffpost.com/entry/michelle-obama-secret-service-agent-racial-slurs_n_60a77286e4b0a25683114f23?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004… # via @HuffPostPol

Ex-Secret Service Agent Details 'Shockingly' Racist Abuse Endured By Michelle Obama
"They could say whatever they wanted so long as there was no imminent threat of harm," Evy Poumpouras said of the racism leveled at the former first lady.
huffpost.com
7:37 AM · May 21, 2021

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/michelle-obama-secret-service-agent-racial-slurs_n_60a77286e4b0a25683114f23?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004

A former Secret Service agent has detailed the racist abuse that was leveled at Michelle Obama during her time as first lady, and her frustration and inability as an assigned protector to do anything about it.

“I could do nothing,” Evy Poumpouras told Insider in an article published Wednesday. “There’s freedom of speech in the United States, and even if I personally feel that speech is wrong, the law doesn’t give me the power to take that person’s speech away.”

“When it came to speech, they could call them names,” Poumpouras recalled. “They could say whatever they wanted so long as there was no imminent threat of harm.”

In Poumpouras’ 2020 memoir “Becoming Bulletproof,” she revealed how Obama had as the first Black first lady withstood “certain kinds of disparagement that none of her predecessors ever faced.”

*snip*

[JHB]

1. Sadly, it's not as shocking as it should be

Not after what the Republican base (and its RW media instigators) were saying at the time.

And since.

And before.

[malaise]

16. The truth

[BobTheSubgenius]

61. That's the point I was going to make.

They may have dozens of file boxes with the most vile insults and disgusting ideas that no normal person could even fabricate...but nothing about it is shocking. These are people who would be quite at home in a pickup truck in Jasper TX, dragging a human being behind them.

Depravity is no longer even surprising, let alone shocking. The depraved have been showing us who they are for not just decades, but centuries. It's time another tack is found to confront them. I have no idea what that might be, and perhaps an effective, practical technique or strategy doesn't even exist.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

I was on her protective detail when we were driving to a school to deliver a speech; we passed someone on a bridge holding up a shockingly racist sign directed at her. I remember feeling outraged — after all, it was part of our job to protect the first family mentally as well as physically. But if the first lady saw the sign, she gave no indication of it. We arrived at the school and she walked out with her head held high, ready to inspire all of the students eagerly waiting for her.

Probably one of these:

[Treefrog]

10. I think that woman is in prison now.

For embezzlement or something similar. Good.

[ShazzieB]

45. I believe you are right about that.

I don't remember the details and don't have time to check now. But I remember reading about it at the time and thinking YES!!!

Edited to add: I see that malaise already posted all the deets. Thanks, malaise!

[malaise]

17. That one was sent to prison for FEMA fraud recently

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdwv/pr/clay-county-woman-sentenced-fema-fraud
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Clay County woman was sentenced for embezzling federal FEMA disaster benefits, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Pamela Taylor, 57, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, 2 months of home confinement, and a $10,000 fine for making multiple false statements to FEMA and causing the agency to provide her with over $18,000 in fraudulent, undeserved benefits. Taylor has already paid $18,149.04 in restitution. Stuart commended the investigative efforts of the United States Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG) and the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations.

“There’s no such thing as a little bit of FEMA fraud. Taylor’s fraudulent scheme took FEMA dollars away from those who needed it the most,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “Federal disaster benefits are critical to rebuilding infrastructure, homes and lives – not for lining the pockets of individuals who suffered no loss. As I stated earlier this month, you can rest assured that my office is working with appropriate federal agencies to investigate the issues of disaster relief, and the use of federal funds related to the historic 2016 floods. Any party that abused their position of authority, violated the public trust, or misused taxpayer dollars will be held accountable.”

“Defrauding federal programs is always an egregious act. Disaster relief fraud is even more serious because of the limited nature of the funds intended to assist Americans in their time of greatest need,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark Tasky of DHS-OIG. “DHS-OIG is pleased to have worked this investigation jointly with the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia to show the good people of West Virginia that justice has been served upon Taylor, who knowingly and willfully disregarded federal laws to personally enrich herself at a time when many people affected by this disaster were just trying to survive.”

Taylor admitted that she falsely registered for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster benefits after the June 2016 flood in Clay County, West Virginia. Taylor claimed that her primary residence was damaged by the flood and that she was staying in a rental unit after the flood. In fact, her primary residence was undamaged, and she still resided there. Due to her false statements, she received more than $18,000 in FEMA benefits to which she was not entitled.
-------------------
Karma is an itch with a Capital B

[marble falls]

3. Michelle Obama is a national treasure. She'd make a great UN Ambassador. There's a long list .....

... offices she'd more than adequately serve.

[efhmc]

4. Disgusting.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Why are there so many horrible, racist people in this country?

I will never understand it.

[DownriverDem]

14. Many think

their circumstances are related to black, brown and women. They are ignorant. The dumbing down of America started in the 1970s. We must focus on GOTV for the Midterms of 2022. Otherwise the Biden/Harris agenda is doomed.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

36. It was earlier than the 70's, but Republican fascists...

... maybe became more organized with their propaganda efforts around that time.

I wasn't born until the late-60's, but I later looked through my oldest brother's senior high school yearbook of 1968.

Part of the yearbook was devoted to current events of 1968, showing Vietnam protests and such. It included coverage of race issues.

One page had a heading like, "Some people believe that more opportunities are needed for the ne--os", with a large picture of MLK leading a march.

The next page had a heading like, "While other people believe that they need to lift themselves up from their living conditions." And the picture on that page was a young black boy with dirty clothes standing barefoot on a large heap of trash at a big garbage dump!

I confronted my brother about it, saying that I couldn't believe anything so ridiculous and insulting was ever permitted in his yearbook! He replied that people were idiots back then, like it was all in the past now. That happened with me and my brother sometime in the early 80's, I think.

[joetheman]

56. Quite a few came here specifically to be racist fascist. nt

[Caliman73]

19. I know it is super frustrating.

Please don't take this personally.... I am surprised by your statement. Given the history of this country. Given what it took for the US to abolish the horror of slavery, given that while we addressed slavery, there was little done to even discuss the idea of White Supremacy. Given that the same treatment was done to Indigenous people, to Mexicans, to Chinese, Italians & Irish (until they were deemed White enough). Given that it took another 100 years after the Civil War for the rights of Black people to be legally recognized, then another 6 years after that for laws prohibiting people with different skin colors from marrying to be struck down nationally. Given what continues today with policing and other areas of life.

Race, Racism, White Supremacy, and the legacy of those concepts in the United States have never been dealt with in any honest way in this country since its founding. Though I do think that the numbers are decreasing in terms of the size of the racist contingency in the US, the virulence and severity are not. We have a whole media system that has used racism as a marketing tool. They stoke the remaining racists and twist the situation. They have put White victimhood up as a credible idea within that subsection of the population AND are trying to take it mainstream.

That is why there are STILL so many racists in this country. That is why President Obama and Michelle had significantly extra burden in getting their message out to the people. That is why Joe Biden, who is similar to, if not more progressive, is given a pass on many things that Obama was criticized for.

Racism, in a way, is like the Cosmic Background Radiation. It has been there from the beginning. It is part of American society, built into its traditions, structures, etc... If you grow up in American society, by default, you are going to be fed racially biased information through media, in our history books, in our traditional celebrations. As a person of color, people are typically taught to see it because it is a matter of survival, but when we point it out, we are called the "real racists" because we focus on race. The difference between racism and the CBR is two things, Race and racism are invented concepts created to benefit certain people and kept in force today because those same class of people still get enough benefit from it. Unlike the CBR though, racism can be dissipated and diminished but it will take enough people to realize that it is there and that actions need to be taken to diminish its presence, for that change to occur.

[Lonestarblue]

22. Excellent summation. I would add that Christian churches also were and are part of the problem.

Many ministers, especially Southern Baptists, embraced racism and supported the Klan. Black people were regularly portrayed as an inferior race. Before their emancipation, brutality to slaves was just accepted as normal by so-called “good Christians,” and after emancipation the brutality continued to teach black people their proper place. That brutality continues today with police beating and murdering black men especially.

Our history is replete with examples of racial hatred and racial ignorance. One egregious example was that of James Sims, the “father of modern gynecology,” who perfected his techniques by doing experimental surgeries on slave women without anesthesia. His racist notion was that black people felt no pain.

Racism is embedded deeply in this country. I disagree with VP Harris on this point. We have always been a racist country. I hate to say it, but I am beginning to believe that we always will be.

[Mosby]

27. No one wants to face antisemitism either.

[Caliman73]

41. Or sexism and misogyny for that matter.

There are many things that we need to take a look at ourselves about.

[Collimator]

30. "Cosmic Background Radiation"

Inspired analogy. Thank you for that.

[whathehell]

31. If you think racism

is uniquely a part of "this" country, you need to get out more..It is part of MOST, if not all countries, including Brazil, a fact noted by Barack Obama in his excellent book, A Promised Land.

[whathehell]

32. If you think racism

is uniquely a part of "this" country, you need to get out more..It is part of MOST, if not all countries, including Brazil, a fact noted by Barack Obama in his excellent book, A Promised Land.

[Caliman73]

40. Interesting. What makes you think I think racism is unique to the US?

Racism and Race as a concept was around before the United States was a colony. The idea of separation by race was conceptualized by Portuguese traders who were commissioned to examine cultures in Africa to justify the bondage of slaves from that region. Portuguese slavery was particularly cruel, though it wasn't a chattel type and intergenerational slavery like US Slavery.

Prior to the concept of "race" there was the concept of "inferior cultures" and other ways in which groups of men justified the enslavement and mistreatment of other groups. Discrimination is an "animal" trait, which Human animals have elevated to segregate and mistreat other humans (and other animals) based on skin color, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity (culture), ability, and other traits.

Hitler's ideas were borrowed from US racial attitudes along with longstanding prejudices against Jews. He was in search of the "perfect Aryan Race" and wanted to kill off "undesirables" which primarily targeted Jews, but also Roma, Poles and other "Slavs" (the progenitor for the word Slave), and other groups. He wanted "purity".

Given that I am from the US and the question was about the US, I answered from an American historical perspective.

So, I answered your post, perhaps you would like to explain why you assumed that I thought racism unique to the US? Why you would suggest, I "get out more", and why President Obama's insights would be necessary for me to realize that race was not a "uniquely American" thing? and finally, Does it bother you that I said that America has to address its problem with race? Because that was a very particular reaction to my post. No questions, just ... boom, "you need to get out more" and telling me that Other places have racism too, as if that answers the posters question about why there are so many racists in the US.

[happy feet]

46. The peculiar institution

Not the same. Slavery in the U.S. was called the "peculiar institution" because we took slavery to levels unlike that practiced in ANY other country. Read up.

[whathehell]

52. You read up..

Slavery was practiced every bit as cruelly in other countries..It only became illegal in Saudi Arabia in 1930 -- Have a good one.

[StarfishSaver]

37. Beautiful!

We also have too many white people in this country who believe (or pretend to believe) that racism only manifests itself in blatant ugliness like racial slurs and outright hate but not in the everyday, smaller, micro-aggressions and dismissals by white people who refuse to own up to the damage they cause and often themselves play the victim.

[smirkymonkey]

43. I guess maybe I am one of those naive white people who, before Trump brought

them out of the woodwork, honestly thought things had gotten a lot better. Especially with Obama being elected as President twice.

I mean, I knew that it still existed on some level, but I had no idea that it was that widespread and that intense, like it is with the MAGATs. I just can't imagine hating someone so much simply because of the color of their skin, or where they are from, or their religion, etc.

The Trump years really woke me up to the ugliness that exists in this country, but I still have a hard time getting my mind around it because I don't really see it in my world. I live in a very progressive neighborhood in a very blue city, state and region of the country. The company I work for actively promotes diversity and inclusion and if anyone demonstrated racist behavior they would be out on their ass in a New York minute.

I do know some republicans, but they are more the greedy "low taxes", "personal responsibilty" types of republicans, not the frothing at the mouth, hateful, racist, white-supremecists that you see in other areas of the country.

I guess I really can't understand what it is like to be filled with that much hatred for an entire group of people and it is still shocking to me when I see such extreme examples.

[Caliman73]

44. The out and out racists are a very small number but they are extremely loud.

The people we really need to be worried about are those who are more subtle, who maybe even openly say racism is bad, but then turn around and ask, "Why is it that Black people commit so many crimes?" and things like that.

Check this out. Sobering, but necessary.

[mountain grammy]

53. You and me both pal

I thought I saw it all as a 10 year old living in NC and high school in Hartford,CT, but proceeded with my life completely delusional that “things” were so much better now and Americans have progressed..The numbers are depressing..
Last year my son thanked me for raising him not to hate anyone. I did one thing right.

[llashram]

49. this

proper explanation everyone can understand about race in America

[SoonerPride]

6. The world would be better off without the racists

How we get rid of them is up to you.

[whathehell]

29. I'm assuming you meant

" up to 'us', rather than "you".

[ShazzieB]

55. Who do you mean by "you"?

I would say it's up to all of us.

[LakeArenal]

7. Think of all the actual plots against the Obamas that we don't know about.

Disturbing as hell.

Michelle Obama is the best First Lady ever.

[rurallib]

9. remember there were actual shots fired at the White House

that entered the building. I believe the kids were home at the time.

[Treefrog]

11. I don't remember that. Do you have a link?

Difficult to get close to the White House.

[rurallib]

12. Hope wikipedia is OK for you. There are sources from WaPo but I don't have a subscription

I thought both girls were home, but only Sasha and Michelle's mom:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_White_House_shooting

On November 11, 2011, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, an unemployed 21-year-old man, fired multiple shots at the White House using a semi-automatic rifle. At least seven bullets hit the second floor. Neither the President Barack Obama nor First Lady Michelle Obama were home at the time; the president was not in Washington, D.C., having been on a trip abroad. However, the couple's youngest daughter, Sasha, and the first lady's mother, Marian Shields Robinson, were in the White House. No one was injured. It took four days for the Secret Service to realize that bullets had struck the White House. Michelle Obama learned of the shooting from an usher, then summoned Mark J. Sullivan, director of the Secret Service, to find out why the first family had not been informed.

In September 2013, Ortega-Hernandez pleaded guilty to one count of property destruction and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, thereby avoiding being charged with an attempt to assassinate the President. In March 2014, he was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment. In September 2014, The Washington Post published an investigative report detailing errors that the Secret Service made on the night of the shooting that led to the crime going undiscovered. A House of Representatives hearing followed and Julia Pierson, director of the Secret Service, resigned the following week. It was the first shooting at the White House since Francisco Martin Duran's attempted assassination of President Bill Clinton in 1994.

[calimary]

33. She NEVER deserved that disgusting disregard.

All I ever saw in Michelle Obama was grace, brilliance, refinement, compassion, elegance, class, tastefulness, creativity, versatility, leadership, all the good things. Grace under fire for sure. A role model for the ages!

A role model for ALL our daughters, regardless of the color of their external packaging.

[LakeArenal]

34. Or gender.

[wnylib]

58. Agree that she never "deserved it." NOBODY ever does.

[DeSmet]

8. If I were in charge of the Secret Service

not one caucasian agent would be assigned to any of the Trump family.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Michelle Obama was a treasure

Melania was a disgrace, never has a First Lady shown less compassion outwardly. She was exactly who she appeared to be, shallow and consumed with wealth and status.

[Jarqui]

15. I still think the world of Barack & Michelle and

their family.

I'm very grateful with many other good feelings that I got to experience their service as President and First Lady. I still feel they were as good or better than any President and First Lady ever.

But I still haven't got over the hatred and racism I witnessed against them.
I had been lulled into thinking we were further along as a society. I was devastated and horrified to find out that was not the case for the many, many victims of this behavior. I feel guilty for that naivety. I will never be at peace with that and the knowledge that it will not end in my lifetime. I guess that I will never fully comprehend why people have to be this way. I do not understand it. I wish that I had done more.

I hope the country has more Barack & Michelle Obamas in its future. Joe, Jill and Kamala are doing pretty well.

[pazzyanne]

18. "I had been lulled into thinking we were further along as a society."

There are a lot of us who thought we were past that. It took a racist in the White House to unleash the hatred and put it in full view. The millions of hate filled racists in the USA is astounding. It also brought the raciest in my family to the forefront.

[Jarqui]

21. That is true - Trump stirred the racist pot that helped bring it

more out into the open.
But he didn't create it. It had to have always been there.

I may not have seen it but the folks on the receiving end sure did.
That is the part that really bothers me and it is part of the reason we still have the problem.
If more of us were clued in, more would have done something to stop it.

[pazzyanne]

35. Exactly! nt

[Jarqui]

47. One thing that gives me hope is the reaction

to George Floyd and others like him.

It's shifted from predominantly black vs white in the 60s to blacks plus a bunch of others including whites against the racists. If that hadn't happened, I don't know what I would have done.

[jalan48]

20. And the most powerful man in the world was powerless to do anything about it. Pretty sad.

[FakeNoose]

23. Freedom of Speech doesn't give anyone the right to be rude or disrespectful

... especially not to the First Lady or anyone in the President's family.

What is this world coming to? WHY WEREN'T THESE PEOPLE FIRED?

[dsc]

26. because they didn't work for the government

these were protestors who did indeed have the right to be rude and disrespectful.

[ladym55]

24. This breaks my heart

But I'm not surprised. Michelle Obama is a beautiful, smart, and compassionate woman. We were blessed to have her as FLOTUS. Unfortunately, far too many of us have racism so deeply embedded in our beings that we prefer the third wife of a grifter to an educated and classy Black woman.

[Marthe48]

25. Proud of First Lady Obama taking the high road

Every single time.

I don't say much about either Pres. or Mrs. Obama, but I remain proud of their example, and their grace under fire. In a better and different world, their vision would have made a difference for so many people.

I won't detract from this post by making a comment about anyone else.

[NoMoreRepugs]

28. This country has always been at the top or close to it among the most racist countries in the World.

[randr]

38. If the shoe fits-----

[electric_blue68]

39. Ugh! But NOT Surprised... : (

Unfortunately! 😔 😠 🤬

[Staph]

42. Remember the woman on her bike who gave the Trump motorcade the finger?

She lost her job as a government contractor!

Of course, the good part of that story is that she got interested in politics, and was elected to her county board of supervisors in Virginia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juli_Briskman

[llashram]

48. America

is mean. Of course, no other First Lady had to endure what First Lady Michelle Obama faced. d. trump has allowed America to show its true nature always underlying in the "white picket fence, god, mom and apple pie" bullshit so I'm not surprised at this in the least. "Certain kind of disparagement". Easy to figure out what Michelle Obama was subjected to by members of the 'master race'.

But at last America's dirty, dirty secrets are being exposed. Whether we can conquer the racist hate as Americans is another thing entirely. I don't expect that racism will ever go away. 70 million of the kind that kind have always been out there to disrespect First Lady Michelle Obama.

[world wide wally]

50. How can anybody dislike Michelle Obama?

Idiots.
Period

[live love laugh]

54. There are hurtful things that happened to them we'll never know about. nt

[SunSeeker]

57. And it continues. Facebook lets stand racist charicatures of Michelle.

A few days ago I saw one where she was depicted as a large hairy black male. I reported the post to Facebook as racist hate, but they replied it was "within standards" and let it stay.

[NJCher]

60. Within standards

Another good reason to never give fb a click nor a single minute of my time. I never have and I never will.

That disgusts me.

[soldierant]

59. There was one other First lady who was the target

of racist abuse, and that was Eleanor Roosevelt.

Obviously she herself was not black - but she was frequently referred to as a "n-word lover" - and in her case they meant it literally. She was believed to have cheated on Franklin with one or more men of color.

That isn't of course any worse than what happened to Michelle. Both were disgusting.