Ogburn 'absolutely embarrassed and mortified' about shared Facebook post

Henrico School Board member Micky Ogburn expressed embarrassment and remorse Monday about sharing an offensive Facebook post about Dr. Seuss books Friday night.

In an interview with the Citizen, Ogburn said that she shared the post (which had come up on her Facebook timeline) to her personal page quickly and without reading most of it or seeing an attached offensive photo because it made her think about her young granddaughter, to whom she and her husband had spent hours reading Dr. Seuss books during the Christmas holiday.

The post she shared included a photo of The Grinch extending his middle finger and a poem that was written to mimic typical Dr. Seuss prose but that expressed anger about a recent decision by the company that controls Dr. Seuss’s books to stop publication of six that it deemed partially racist. (The poem began “I looked and I read/I found them splendid/Not one vicious word/To make me offended.”)

But Ogburn said she was largely unfamiliar with the decision of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and has only ever read one of the books in question (And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street). Instead, she said, the few lines she read of the post made her think of reading Dr. Seuss books with her husband, who is known as “Pop” to their granddaughter, during Christmas.

“I’m reading this poem about Dr. Seuss, I thought about Emma, I’m like, ‘She loves Hop on Pop,’ I shared it,” Ogburn said. “It was that quick a share. . . This was me thinking about my granddaughter – I wasn’t even thinking about the whole [Dr. Seuss] controversy that is brewing and continuing.”

It wasn’t until several hours after sharing it – with the words “I love this and Dr. Seuss books” – that Ogburn said she actually read the entire post and saw the photo, which she said she couldn’t explain having missed initially.

“I can’t explain that, I wish I could,” she said of the photo. “But I did not see it.

“If I had ever seen the whole [post], I would have never posted it. I am so sorry that I made this mistake, that I posted this. I am absolutely embarrassed and mortified that this appeared on my Facebook page. If I could undo pushing that button and see all of it, I would have never pushed the button. It’s embarrassing to me. That’s out of my character. Anybody who knows me knows that that is not something I would do. I am just profoundly sorry.”

Ogburn quickly deleted the post Friday evening and wrote a hastily worded and brief apology that night, which she said she later amended an hour or two later to add a more thorough explanation and to resolve some typos.

At the time she deleted the post, there were three comments about it. Ogburn said she reached out to apologize to the people who left those comments and also has reached out to the handful who have sent emails expressing anger or frustration about the post. She has kept her phone with her constantly during the past few days so that she could immediately reply to anyone who was upset, she said.

On Saturday, she also emailed her fellow board members to let them know of the post, apologize for it and encourage them to let her know about any complaints they received so that she could reply personally. She copied Henrico Superintendent Amy Cashwell on the email.

“They all said that 'It happens, we understand,' and basically expressed appreciation for me owning it and handling it as quickly as I did,” she said.

As for what portion of the original post that she did read prompted her to write “I love this,” Ogburn said she interpreted it quickly as “somebody’s cute attempt, or they thought at least, to maybe be a little lighthearted,” but reiterated that she was primarily thinking of her granddaughter.

Ogburn said she had no issue with Dr. Seuss Enterprises taking the books in question out of publication.

“Of course not, I mean that’s their decision as an entity,” she said. “I would support their decision. I haven’t read it, so I can’t comment on something I haven’t read. I feel like it they think it’s offensive, that’s good enough for me – take it out.”

Ogburn, a former teacher herself, acknowledged that students or school system employees who had posted what she did likely would face some consequences, and she said that she had learned a clear lesson.

“When you share something, look at it – look at the whole thing,” she said. “It’s a lesson learned for me. Be sure of what you’re posting. We all have to understand that when we post something, we’re responsible for what we post. Everybody makes mistakes, even the adults, and we have to own up to them. . . I’ve just tried really hard to own that mistake, to be proactive, to tell anyone that I find the rest of what’s there offensive as well.”

Her mistake, she said, doesn’t change the fact that during her seven years on the school board, she’s listened to constituents from all backgrounds and will continue to do so.

Ogburn said she’s not planning to make a formal statement to her constituents but rather would continue to address any criticism or responses to her post directly.