A local leader in Carrollton, Georgia is doubling down on his comments that some called racist and refused to offer an apology after saying that a “White man has and is destroying the world,” reports Fox 5.
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Mayor pro tem Gerald Byrd’s recent Facebook post raised eyebrows and caused some controversy after he posted a picture of a native American against a black man with the caption “the genocide of one race, the enslavement of another.
“Both people in the photo are the same. White man has and is destroying the world.”
Community members have called for Byrd to apologize and to step down for what they consider to be a discriminatory comment, but at a recent City Council meeting, the Mayor pro tem still offered no apology for the offensive post.
Barry Harwell, who attended the meeting, said he did take offense to the post.
“I do think racism will never really end as long as we’re entitled to offer up our personal opinion,” Harwell said from the podium at the council meeting.
But Byrd pushed back.
“I don’t think that’s a racist comment at all. You know when I think of my position here at city hall everyday it seems I’m dealing with some sort of issue of racial discrimination,” Byrd said.
“Asking you to resign Mr Byrd would be futile. But I ask you to consider it,” said Harwell.
Bobby Gaines, managing member of Gaines Harbor Investments. shares Harwell’s sentiments. On June 20 Gaines said in a Facebook post he is “appalled to read such comments by a community servant and business owner.”
“He’s making disparaging remarks regarding an entire race of people of people and such racism in our community is quite frankly disgusting,” he said.
“As a father of three white children, one Latino daughter and one black son, I assure you we do not care about color in our home. Why can’t we all love one another for who we are? I have supported Mr. Byrd’s business in the past, but be assured, I will never in good conscience give another dollar to a man who has hatred and disgust for me or any member of my family,” he continued.
Gaines also asked people to boycott the Institute of Imagination, which is Boyd’s non-profit organization. He left a one-star review on the Facebook page with the comment: ““I wish we could all be colorblind, but unfortunately Mr. Byrd wants to demonize certain races,” Gaines said. “Please do not support this despicable man.”
Byrd is unbothered and said: “It’s not about me it’s more about disenfranchised people the poor and their struggles every single day,” he said. On Thursday he continued to double down. He posted a photo on Facebook about how whites call blacks racist for speaking out about white racism.
“The only way to get through this mess is to talk about it,” Byrd said on Facebook.
“It truly exists and I experience it every day in my walk. It makes me so sad that it appears to be stronger now than ever. It must end. By talking about it, I am not perpetuating it. I am making those who commit it aware of what they are doing in hopes that it will end. Blacks and other minorities do not hold institutional and financial power to control any part of America except that we boycott, therefore we are not racists and cannot be.”