Black councilman told he should work in ‘cotton field’
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) - "It's not a racial remark at all," white councilman John Williams said. "He makes everything racial."...
WARNER ROBINS, Ga. (AP) — Civil rights groups have criticized a white city councilman in Warner Robins, Ga., for telling a black colleague during a public meeting that he should work in a cotton field.
The exchanged happened during an argument Monday between Councilman John Williams, who is white, and Daron Lee, who is black.
“I was disrespected last Monday,” Lee said in televised comments. “I’m getting tired of y’all talking to me any kind of way. I’m sorry, I’m not in a cotton field. OK?”
“You should be,” Williams replied.
Lee said in an interview with WXIA-TV that he considered Williams’ comment a racial remark. Black slaves labored in the cotton fields of Southern plantations until slavery was banned in 1865 after the U.S. Civil War.
Williams denied making a racist remark, although he later said he regretted the way his comments made others feel.
“It’s not a racial remark at all,” Williams said. “He makes everything racial.”
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has written a letter telling city officials that they should step down if they cannot represent all the city’s constituents. It did not specifically ask for Williams to resign.
“It merely stated the fact that he should consider it if he cannot conduct himself better,” Larry Holmes, president of the Houston County NAACP, told The Macon Telegraph.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League called on the council to resolve the recent tensions. Bill Nigut, the ADL’s southeast regional director, said his organization is calling on Williams to apologize and offered to provide the council with diversity training.
“This would have been an offensive remark in any setting and no matter who made it, but the fact that it was made by an elected official during a public meeting makes it particularly repugnant,” Nigut said in a statement.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
You Might Like
