Texas Judge Tom Head is under fire this week after he posted the pictures of nine people wearing Obama shirts. Seven of the nine men were black and the pictures were accompanied by material critical of Obama supports and suggesting that Republican voters are rarely arrested.
Judge Head’s picture display was later removed and he has since apologized.
Head has been using the bulletin board like a type of blog for satire for years, he insisted. Judge Head has various duties on the court, including mental competence determinations.
“I have posted satire, current events, and many other materials covering a range of issues that I felt were interesting or worthy of discussion. This is the first time any of those materials have been interpreted in a much different way than it was intended … I may have been naive in thinking that people would know my actions would never be directed at a race of people. At a political party, yes, but never to a particular race or culture. . . Therefore, I sincerely apologize to everybody that was offended by the materials I posted. I truly never meant any racial disrespect. I apologize to them and all citizens of Lubbock for the distraction this has caused from the work I have been elected to do. . . .I apologize to members of the judiciary. As a judge, either of the Commissioners’ Court or of a Civil or Criminal Court, we are held to higher standards, and my actions have brought reproach to these individuals and myself, and I apologize and ask for your forgiveness. I apologize to the members of the Republican Party. I never intended for my actions to label my political party as in any way promoting racism. It was not my intent to do so, and it certainly was not the party’s intent. We are a conservative party, and we welcome diversity. Our conservative values have no room for callous or insensitive remarks or materials, even if it was unintentional. . . I would like to restate, for the record, that there are many forums available for political material, but the courthouse should not be one of them … I was wrong and I will never do so again … I hope one day I can regain your trust and not just as an elected official, but as your servant, friend and neighbor. Again, I would ask your forgiveness.
May God bless this community and our country.”
That is a lot of apologizin’ but may not be enough. There have been calls for his resignation. There remains the image of a judge who thinks that it is funny to post suggestions that the nation’s first black president is supported by people most likely to be criminals. The fact that he used a court forum for such a juvenile posting shows a breathtaking lack of judgment and restraint.
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Every single person who has been in Judge Head’s courtroom should have their case reviewed for cultural bias.
You don’t have to be black to feel his wrath, I’m sure any liberal or Democrat got the fair trial they deserved from this moron.
This is unbelievable that he has not been kicked off the bench.
And then to invoke God. Like that makes it OK.
In Austin, Texas, we refer to folks like Judge Head as “fucking rednecks.” I was born and raised in Texas. It’s a big state so please don’t lump us all together as idiots!
Well you have the stark choice to either believe Judge Head or your lying eyes.
My favorite line from Judge Head’s apogee of atonement: “May God bless this community and our country.” What ‘s that observation on feigned patriotism again from Samuel Johnson? Seems apropos here.
Now back to the vacation. Couldn’t resist this one. Like the sphinx I am silently observing and throughly enjoying. My best to all.
Alberto Gonzales has landed a teaching job at Texas Tech. Maybe he will volunteer to handle Judge Head’s defense before the judicial qualifications folks.
One would think, even in Lubbock Tx. which is like the rat hole of the earth, a judge could get disbarred for being an idiot !!
Elections have consequences – his is disbarment…
It doesn’t take much for a bigot to be a bigot these days. this judge had alot of help when he decided to act our his bias from glen beck and that CNN guy with the big bland dimpled face whose name I can never remember.
oh and lets not forget that texas is now teaching the bible as a mandatory class.
I’ve driven through west texas and i will never forget them as the most boring days of driving in my life. I lived in austin for one year and i could not wait to leave. it was okay mostly except for the bugs, the weather and the people.
This is “the nexus to nowhere” case and much like the bridge to nowhere case, it leads to nowhere land nowhere man so please listen.
A lawyer asked me if I was a musician when I walked into her office wearing a tee shirt with a large guitar on it labelled “tool of the trade”.
I said no, I just like to wear tee shirts with guitars on them.
She laughed.
I agree with the conclusion that the posting shows a serious lack of judgment on the part of the judge, but that part of the conclusion that states “that the nation’s first black president is supported by people most likely to be criminals” is flawed logic. The poster suggests, if anything, that most criminals support the president. I think in general that it is true that a majority of criminals support democrats. Democrats have consistently over the years been more supportive of constitutional arguments and legislation that crimials would also favor. Not necessarily a bad thing.
What has happened is that Judge Head has published his political and cultural attitudes, attitudes which undoubtedly give shape to his rulings from the bench. The attitudes are inherently offensive and small-minded, but he insists that they are not meant to offend. In other words, his apology reads something like the following: “I apologize if anyone is offended by my overt racism and assure you that it does not inform my judgment.” He is entitled to his beliefs, but he is not fit to serve on the bench. I suspect that Jeff Sessions would disagree with me on the basis that Judge Head does not demonstrate the bias of a wise Latina.
I tells ye, they’s a’somethin’ in da’ Tejas drankin’ water a’causin’ feeblemindedness n’ sparkin’ that old tyme religin’…
…Texas, The Looney Star State.
One of my favorite traditional ballads performed by Don Edwards:
Down By the Brazos (The Texas River Song)
We cross the wild Pecos,
We forded the Nueces,
We swum the Guadalupe,
And we followed the Brazos;
Red River runs rusty,
The Wichita clear,
But down by the Brazos
I courted my dear.
Chorus: Singing li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
Li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
Li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
There’s many a river
That waters the land.
Now the fair Angelina
runs glossy and gliding,
The crooked Colorado
runs weaving and winding,
The slow San Antonio
courses the plains,
But I never will walk
by the Brazos again.
She kissed me and she hugged me,
And she called me her dandy,
The Trinity’s muddy
But the Brazos quicksandy,
She kissed me and she hugged me,
And she called me her own,
But down by the Brazos,
She left me alone.
Now the girls of Little River
They’re plump and they’re pretty
The Sabine and the Sulphur
Hold beauties a-many,
The banks of the Neches,
There are girls by the score,
But down by the Brazos,
I’ll wander no more.
Chorus: Singing li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
Li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
Li li li, le le le,
Lend me your hand,
There’s many a river
That waters the land.
Full Disclosure: I was borned n’ growed-up in Texas until me n’ my folks high-tailed it to Colorado in the 1950s. I spent many a fond hour fishin’ n’ swimin’ in the Brazos River and Possum Kingdom Lake as a young lad.
Lubbock does not resemble the South. The trees are very small and the landscape is generally barren. There are very few African Americans that live there. West Texas has a very stange culture. We drove through West Texas last summer to to go to Colorado to work for Obama. We had an Obama bumper sticker and spouse was wearing an Obama T-shirt. We were not received well at the local diner when we stopped for lunch.
His apology was not to those who were AFFECTED only those offended and the REPUBLICAN PARTY in particular. I can’t help but believe that he would not have apologized or changed his behavior if not for the ruckus. This is a person who sits in judgement of others and his bias is a detriment to the judicial system and the rule of law. How can anyone trust this person to be fair? If you’re Republican he’s lenient, if not he’ll hammer you. Even further, how can he truthfully say he doesn’t jusdge based on race, creed, color, religion, etc., etc..
This man is a danger and reflects the same slanted justice the South is know for.
I think the Texas metro areas are getting better for democrats and the small cities and rural areas are getting worse. Democrats have made a lot of progress in Dallas County.
Ay,
But aren’t Willie and Waylon from Lubbock too? Somehow, I don’t think this judge is a fan of theirs. Texas is turning very scary before our eyes and most of the South is following closely behind. That’s what you get when an armed insurrection in support of a horrible institution, like the Civil War, gets turned into a romantic attempt by true patriots to return to our Revolutionary Ideals. From the deal made by Andrew Johnson, to the KKK, to “Birth of a Nation” and on to “Gone With the Wind,” the South was made into a romantic place by American
culture, pushing the inherent racist terrors and impoverishment of its’ whites into the background.
Well what did you expect from a Judge from Lubbock.