The Justice Department released a 314-page report Wednesday (3-13) following an eight-month investigation of a gathering of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in Tennessee. Finding evidence of racism, rampant drunkenness, performances by strippers and other misconduct at the “Good ‘Ol Boys Roundup,” the report described an atmosphere hostile to women, blacks and other people of color. The gathering — organized by a former agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms– began in 1980 and has, for the past six years, been characterized by its racist skits, jokes, and the wearing and selling of racist T-shirts. In July, President Clinton called the reported racist acts “sickening.”
The report found no evidence of group assaults on women and only recommended a reprimand for one FBI agent who made a racist comment to another man at the gathering. Although the report found “ample evidence of shocking, racist, licentious, and puerile behavior,” it apparently found no evidence that any other department employee engaged in misconduct. News sources did not indicate any future plans for discontinuing the annual event.
