NYC official calls Gates racist, resigns

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York City government aide has resigned after posting controversial Facebook comments about the arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

A spokesman says Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has accepted the resignation of deputy press secretary Lee Landor.

Landor called Gates a racist and referred to President Barack Obama as "O-dumb-a."

A Stringer statement called Landor's comments "totally inappropriate."

Landor defended her entries, but added: "It is understandable that a black man encountering police will be suspicious of racial profiling, based on the long history of racism in this country."

A national debate followed Gates' July 16 arrest at his Cambridge, Mass., home. He and his driver forced their way in because the door was jammed. The disorderly conduct charge was dropped.

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