Cornell Law Library Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers Faculty Scholarship 8-14-2009 “Assassinate the Nigger Ape[]” : Obama, Implicit Imagery, and the Dire Consequences of Racist Jokes Gregory S. Parks District of Columbia Court of Appeals,
[email protected] Danielle C. Heard University of California at Davis,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clsops_papers Part of the Arts and Entertainment Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Jurisdiction Commons, Law and Society Commons, Politics Commons, and the Psychology and Psychiatry Commons Recommended Citation Parks, Gregory S. and Heard, Danielle C., "“Assassinate the Nigger Ape[]” : Obama, Implicit Imagery, and the Dire Consequences of Racist Jokes" (2009). Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers. Paper 61. http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/clsops_papers/61 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Cornell Law: A Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 1 “A SSASSINATE THE NIGGER APE []” : OBAMA , IMPLICIT IMAGERY , AND THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF RACIST JOKES Gregory S. Parks ‡ & Danielle C. Heard † ABSTRACT : In 1994, Congress passed legislation stating that Presidents elected to office after January 1, 1997 would no longer receive lifetime Secret Service protection. Such legislation was unremarkable until the first Black President—Barack Obama—was elected. From the outset of his campaign until today, and likely beyond, President Obama has received unprecedented death threats.