Court documents claim racist terms used in city of Racine e-mails

A federal lawsuit accusing Racine city officials of racism allegedly uncovers e-mails containing thousands of racial slurs.

The lawsuit was filed in February of 2014.

Six minority bar owners filed suit, accusing Mayor John Dickert, and powerful friends within city government of conspiring to drive their businesses out of Racine and of favoritism towards white bar owners.

The mayor is calling this a cheap political trick with no basis what so ever, but the attorney's involved said playing politics has nothing to do with it.

The documents were filed on Tuesday, the same day as Dickert's mayoral primary, and on Wednesday as well.

The plaintiffs said they searched the emails of city employees dating back to 2009 and found thousands of uses of racial slurs.

The slurs target African Americans, Italians, Asians, Latinos, and more.

Court documents also quote a witness who testified that she heard Mayor Dickert say \"It is time for these 'n****** to go back to Waukegan\".

Dickert claims this is an attack as he runs for re-election.

A different motion shows an email from a campaign worker to mayor Dickert warning him about potentially illegal contributions.

The city claims the allegations are taken out of context.

The mayor said the city searched their own emails and found nothing.

Attorneys for the plaintiff said they find that hard to believe because they say their search results were provided by the city.

The city sent this statement:

\"The City of Racine is aware of the statements made in a recent Motion filed by the Plaintiffs' attorneys in the Holmes, et al., v. Dickert, et al., litigation pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. The allegations regarding the hits for individual search terms found in certain City employees' emails have been presented out of the context necessary to understand the terms' usage.\"