BAY HARBOR ISLANDS, Fla. – Marcia Cooke is a well-respected federal judge in Miami for 11 years. Ken Eskin is a candidate for Bay Harbor Islands town council.
Cooke is black. Eskin is white.
So after Eskin encountered Cooke in the parking lot of a Bay Harbor Islands condominium Tuesday as she was putting things in her car and asked, "What family do you work for," Cooke took to Facebook to vent.
Cooke said in the Facebook post that she was dressed professionally the day of the incident "in the female legal eagle/corporate attire: Navy blue suit, pearls and pumps." She said she was "carrying a coordinating briefcase."
The judge then recounted the exchange.
"He: What family do you work for?
Me: Excuse me, I live here.
He: Oh.
Me: Yes, for over twenty years.
As he tries to give me campaign literature, I get in my car and drive away.
Yes, Kenneth Eskin, I live in Bay Harbor Islands. So much for post-racial America."
Eskin told Local 10 News senior political reporter Michael Putney that he was sorry about what happened.
"It was an inadvertent comment, and I apologize profusely for it," Eskin told Putney.
Eskin said he sent the judge a card, apologizing for his remark.
"There was nothing racially motivated about the conversation," Eskin said.
The Bay Harbor Islands election is April 14.
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