I am black, pro, proudly ‘liberal’ - by comparison to these guys, and definitely an Obama fan, (not at first, but now, primarily due to his ability to ‘slough off’ such comments and attitudes espoused by the good judge). Can you tell me that he would be as objective for all defendants, if he cannot have foreseen the disrespect and damage that he was gladly perpetrating? This judge SHOULD resign, because we Americans depend on JUDGES to JUDGE. There is a built-in appeal for every case involving plaintiffs or defendants of a different color or gender than his… This is from a LEGAL perspective. Judge “See Bull” cannot ‘see the bull#%&t’ in his own lame apology, and should realize that his effectiveness to be considered impartial has been destroyed.

To second the earlier writer, while most Americans see this as a mere one-time gaffe or lapse of judgement, the fact that he identified so deeply with the sentiments expressed in the joke - (see his ‘deeply heartfelt’ and ‘touching’ introduction) - and felt absolutely no shame in spreading such nonsense, should disqualify him from ever judging the merits of another human being.He claims that he is so rabidly Anti-Obama that he could not stop to see the insensitivity and disrespect inherent in the filth he dispersed! THIS is the man who will be judging MY actions? I think not… Can you really expect a person of color to be judged equally by this Obama-phobe? C’mon, folks - let’s keep it real! Now hurry up and delegate this fool to some non-judicial role where he can be freee to express his strong Anti-Obama sentiments to the Montana Militia or pass along whatever tripe he feels like - it’s a free country…

The lack of prosecution in the Trayvon Martin case shows just how people’s own prejudices and values ‘intrude’ on the fairness of the judicial process: It’s not the shooting that I question, hell, I wasn’t there; it’s the fact that the DA did not see
‘the need’ to put this citizen on trial to make him prove his innocence. (It was only another black kid - probably a thug or gang-banger, anyway!)

THIS is how a person’s own value system is injected into the judicial process, and, as you can see, the result is ‘justice’ that is neither blind nor fair… (Does anyone doubt for one moment that, had the races been reversed - Martin was a white kid and Zimmerman was a black man - that police would have sent him home with a ‘Don’t worry about it - we understand, (wink, wink!)!’? Although Monatan is a far cry from Florida, and the Martin case has little to do with this judge, the lack of impartiality in the actions of authority figures involved is the common thread that connects these two, and taints the hem of Lady Justice every day in America. It’s the inability to see ‘just people’, not ‘us’ and ‘them’. Whites see it as a momemtary lapse of judgement, while people of color and women see it as a gross ‘indicator’ of the morals and privelige that this judge has benefitted from and believed in all of his life. (I have absolutely no idea of these facts, but I will venture to speculate that there are FEW women and NO people of color (ANY color), occupying ANY bench at the appelate level in Montana… (And damned few below that level, too, even skewing results for demographics)! A person with these opinions does not just see a man, but, a BLACK Man, and, my friends, ‘therein lies the rub’...   

The irony is, that being from Monatana, he will only be replaced by another (WHITE MALE) with probably the exact same sentiment and idealogy as this fool, just with the common sense NOT to immortalize his secret beliefs and proclivities in print. True, equal and fair Justice in Montana, as in much of the country, even in 2012, will remain just as elusive…

I am surprised at some of these comments, particularly the one that racism is “in
bad taste.”  One can hardly disagree with that, but why are we so quick to
minimize racism and relegate it to the level of a dinner party faux pas?

Two possibilities come to mind: first, we want to believe that racism is mostly a
thing of the past and even when it occurs it is a minor incident carried out by a
single individual.  Cebull’s remark meets both of those desires.  It didn’t actually
harm anyone and therefore wasn’t so bad that he should no longer be a judge.

The second possible response is simply that most Americans are grossly ignorant
about this social disease called racism.  So when the Cebull’s of the world reveal
themselves we simply don’t know what to do, so we minimize them and turn
away from the harm they do.

Both responses reveal why racism remains so persistent in society today—it’s not
a big deal and it’s not so bad—after all, this isn’t like Mississippi of the 1950’s. 
Except that it is, only different.

Racism has always been a social mechanism designed to rationalize the
stratification of society along the lines of race.  It creates the “other” and justifies
a cascade of differentiations that manifest today in what we call institutional or
structural racism.  That is, systems and policies that almost unconsciously
perpetuate differential treatment based on race.  The end result of this different
treatment has been studied and documented and it produces enormous harm at
all levels of society.

Cebull’s racist joke is merely a reflection of the prevalence of those systems. 
Cebull unconsciously enjoys the “white” privilege to demean any person of color,
including the president.  He also declares the right to define what is or isn’t
racist—even when that declaration makes no sense whatsoever.  He admits that
the joke is racist and admits that he knowingly spread this racism around to
others, but declares that this doesn’t make him a racist.

The illogic of his self defense reveals once again the nature of white skin
privilege.  Because being a racist carries a negative stigma he claims on one hand
to have committed a racist act, but to still be free of racism.  In making this claim
Cebull is simply wrapping himself in the cloak of America denial. 

Blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate, but it is mere accident that
incarceration rates are 8 to 10 times as high for blacks.  American capital and
trade policies destroy small mexican farms driving them into our own
agribusiness where we use them up and send them back. But that’s not race, it’s
the silent had of the market.  Black homebuyers who qualified for regular home
loans were instead sold balloon mortgages that blew up in the housing bubble. 
But that’s not racism, it’s just a few bad mortgage brokers who miscalculated. The
list goes on and on and on.

So at the heart of Cebull’s racism is the dilemma facing this country today-will we
face the reality of race, or will we, as he has done, hide behind petty excuses that
have more to do with power and privilege than good sense, good policy or simple
morality? 

The real story isn’t should he resign, it is what should we be doing so that we
don’t keep producing the tens of thousands of Judge Cebull’s who have turned
their “post racial America” into a racial nightmare for people of color.

This man should step down immediately. If he feels that
way about the President, imagine the treatment he gives
to people of color whose court cases he presides over.
He is unfit to serve. If I was a defense attorney and
he presided over a case where my black or Hispanic
client went to jail, I would immediately file an
appeal. The sad thing is that this type of racism has
been in our courts since this the founding of America.
Now just as in 1776, “We hold these truths to be self
evident, that all men are created equal”, only applies
to white men.