NAACP calls on Justice Dept., Secret Service to investigate rodeo clown flap

The Missouri chapter of the NAACP appealed for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Secret Service to launch an investigation and open a federal case against the rodeo clown who donned a mask of President Obama’s face and mocked with the crowd: Do you want to see a bull run down Mr. Obama?

The NAACP says the clown was guilty of inciting violence against the president.

In a statement reported by Breitbart, the NAACP’s state president, Mary Ratliff, wrote: “The activities at the Missouri State Fair targeting and inciting violence against our president are serious and warrant a full review by both the Secret Service and the Justice Department. Incidents involving individuals acting out with extreme violent behavior in movie theaters, schools, churches, political appearances, and outdoor events in general speaks volume to the irresponsible behavior of all the parties involved with the incendiary events at the Missouri State Fair.”

The rodeo incident has grabbed national headlines. And the fallout so far has included the resignation of the head of Missouri’s rodeo-clown organization, and the announcement of Missouri State Fair officials that all rodeo clowns will now have to take sensitivity training as a condition of their employment.

Meanwhile, the clown who actually performed the skit — donned a mask of the president and mocked as an announcer asked the crowd if they wanted to see a bull run him down — has been banned for life from state rodeo performances.

Now the call is for the federal government to get involved.

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SEE ALSO: Rodeo clowns asked to take ‘sensitivity training’

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Ms. Ratliff also said, in her statement, that the state is to blame for providing funding for the fair, an annual popular event.

“Our legislature has failed to support Medicare Expansion in Missouri, has consistently attempted to dismantle our Human Rights Commission, fail to adequately fund urban schools — [which] are predominantly African American — yet they are subsidizing the Missouri State Fair to the tune of $400,000. We are calling for the subsidy to stop.”

She went on, Breitbart reported, to say that Governor Nixon’s “planned Pancake Breakfast for Thursday should be his ’Last Supper’ at the Missouri State Fair in response to the racially intolerant attacks on his Commander in Chief.”