After City Councilman Jumaane Williams decided earlier this month to protest by choosing not to rise during the national anthem, he has received hate mail over his actions, including some mail that called him a “f*****g plantation monkey.”
“Plantation owner should have aborted your great-grandmother. You sit during the pledge — well hope you have an accident that causes such physical trauma you will not be able to stand or kneel,” the letter read.
Another hateful letter said that Williams’ decision to protest “brings attention to how pathetic some if not most Blacks are.”
“Black parents wait (some pray) that a son will get shot by a cop; of course he was on his way to college or usually church. This is called Payday for them. The ghetto lottery. What’s one kid when they usually have 6-8 maybe 10,” the letter continues.
Williams said that the hate mail just proves that there is still serious racism and injustice in the United States, the very thing that he is protesting when he chooses not to stand for the national anthem.
“It just underscores that we really haven’t gone as far as we think we have on these issues,” he said. “People try to pretend we’re past that in this country, and we’re not.”