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marble falls

(56,359 posts)
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 09:05 AM Aug 2020

'I can say anything I want': Michigan official defends using racist slur ...

‘I can say anything I want’: Michigan official defends using racist slur while refusing to wear a mask

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/07/michigan-mask-racist-slur/

By
Katie Shepherd
August 7, 2020 at 3:00 a.m. CDT
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<snip>

“Well, this whole thing is because of them n-----s in Detroit,” Tom Eckerle, who was elected to his position on the Leelanau County Road Commission in 2018, told his colleague at the start of the public meeting.

<snip>

“I can say anything I want,” Eckerle said at the meeting, which the public could listen to via a dial-in number, the Leelanau Enterprise first reported. “Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.”


Eckerle’s remarks came the same week Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) declared racism a public health crisis because of the disparate impact the coronavirus pandemic has had in Black, Native American and Latino communities. Michigan has reported at least 94,656 cases and 6,506 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

<snip>

“I don’t regret calling it an n----r,” Eckerle told Interlochen Public Radio. “A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. That’s not a person whatsoever.”

<big snip>

50 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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'I can say anything I want': Michigan official defends using racist slur ... (Original Post) marble falls Aug 2020 OP
Whoa! secondwind Aug 2020 #1
He's got that "look" about him... doesn't he? NurseJackie Aug 2020 #20
Yep. Looks like he could be McConnell's brother groundloop Aug 2020 #27
Jeebus. What I'd look like with a cheap haircut. marble falls Aug 2020 #41
Sure he can, but he will have to deal with what comes next. Srkdqltr Aug 2020 #2
Sure, legally and constitutionally, he can "say anything I want," but . . . . no_hypocrisy Aug 2020 #3
Or even arrested in right circumstance. marble falls Aug 2020 #5
He didn't yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater. ChiTownDenny Aug 2020 #13
He said them n-words in Detroit. padah513 Aug 2020 #17
Post removed Post removed Aug 2020 #22
Yep. It was most certainly hate speech, which would get people fired from most jobs. groundloop Aug 2020 #30
Under The Right Circumstance! louzke9 Aug 2020 #29
Some people need to learn the difference between "free speech" and "protected speech" ... marble falls Aug 2020 #37
Lol padah513 Aug 2020 #48
Dude got zotted by Admin, too! marble falls Aug 2020 #50
even depicted as 150 years ago lapfog_1 Aug 2020 #4
The sheriff is a' near! Wednesdays Aug 2020 #34
A good illustration of how to use hateful language misanthrope Aug 2020 #49
Unbelievable. If he's not gone from his office by this evening, I'll be amazed. nt Mike 03 Aug 2020 #6
What a fucking disgrace! This is from a related article: Mike 03 Aug 2020 #7
What an entitled dipshit. I hope he gets major blowback from this. Nt raccoon Aug 2020 #8
Wow. PatrickforO Aug 2020 #9
An entitled brat with the emotional maturity of a two year old dlk Aug 2020 #10
Trump turbocharged the KKK zaj Aug 2020 #11
If It Talks Like Klan It Looks Like Klan And It Acts Like Klan DanieRains Aug 2020 #12
Take Out the Trash Day is coming dalton99a Aug 2020 #14
Thank u. The racist lot can all crawl back to their woodworks onetexan Aug 2020 #25
Nice! nt iluvtennis Aug 2020 #36
There are assholes everywhere. This does not represent Michigan. Kalamazoo. mahannah Aug 2020 #15
He'll slip up and say that out in public and then he will get his ass beat. nt Hotler Aug 2020 #16
Backwater deplorable. roamer65 Aug 2020 #18
Why did the Washington Post "sanitize" it by using dashes? NurseJackie Aug 2020 #19
Exactly, NurseJackie! flibbitygiblets Aug 2020 #31
The word is always sanitized in news reports. skypilot Aug 2020 #35
Didn't just double down... Harker Aug 2020 #21
this potus llashram Aug 2020 #23
Kickin' with disgust! Faux pas Aug 2020 #24
THIS is what all this anti BLM reactions... BadGimp Aug 2020 #26
He figured that outburst will land him a good job in Trump's admin. C Moon Aug 2020 #28
What's he going to do on Jan 21, 2021? marble falls Aug 2020 #39
Biden hasn't won yet. I recall us thinking Hillary's election was a cakewalk. C Moon Aug 2020 #47
Here's the recall petition- Change.org RainCaster Aug 2020 #32
Petition signed. thanks for the link. nt iluvtennis Aug 2020 #38
Wow Wow Wow lillypaddle Aug 2020 #33
Technically, he's right TlalocW Aug 2020 #40
This guy was bursting at the seams to let his racism out. chowder66 Aug 2020 #42
the failure or morons and racist morons regarding freedom of speech. Javaman Aug 2020 #43
Meanwhile, in Virginia; djacq Aug 2020 #44
Elected Tom Eckerle unmasked racist Michigan "official". The people of Michigan must be very Illumination Aug 2020 #45
Perhaps the best thing Trump did was to give his racist followers the courage to let us know who Nitram Aug 2020 #46

no_hypocrisy

(45,774 posts)
3. Sure, legally and constitutionally, he can "say anything I want," but . . . .
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 09:13 AM
Aug 2020

You can also get severely criticized, ostracized, and lose your credibility for doing your job.

 

ChiTownDenny

(747 posts)
13. He didn't yell "FIRE!" in a crowded theater.
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 10:05 AM
Aug 2020

You need to understand the difference between being a DEPLORABLE and being a CRIMINAL in a free-speech society.

padah513

(2,483 posts)
17. He said them n-words in Detroit.
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 10:36 AM
Aug 2020

Sounds like hate to me and last time I checked hate against an individual or a group of people because of their race was a crime. That's the point I think the poster was trying to make. Maybe a little deplorable and criminal? Or you can continue to defend him because like you said its a free speech society.

Response to padah513 (Reply #17)

groundloop

(11,488 posts)
30. Yep. It was most certainly hate speech, which would get people fired from most jobs.
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:12 AM
Aug 2020

At the very least he should be removed from office.

And I want to give a big shout-out to tRump for making people think that this sort of bullshit is ok.

louzke9

(296 posts)
29. Under The Right Circumstance!
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:09 AM
Aug 2020

Verbal abuse, in most states is considered simple assault/a misdemeanor depending on the circumstance of the incident. The offender can also be sued in civil court depending on the circumstance. The "right circumstance" would include battery! No, in this public meeting the deplorable idiot was not committing any criminal act, however, if he walked up to/singled out an individual and started launching disparaging racial slurs, that could bring criminal charges. Committing an act (verbal or otherwise) with intent to intimidate, threaten or cause fear is assault and ground for arrest. Back to "under the right circumstance", the qualifier.

marble falls

(56,359 posts)
37. Some people need to learn the difference between "free speech" and "protected speech" ...
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:30 AM
Aug 2020

protected speech is free speech, but not all free speech is protected. Free speech is speech made without prior restraint. You can't be kept from making free speech, but you will face sanctioning if that freely made speech breaks laws, like slander or assault.

lapfog_1

(29,166 posts)
4. even depicted as 150 years ago
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 09:17 AM
Aug 2020


you can't get away with that language and stay in public office or work in a business.

misanthrope

(7,405 posts)
49. A good illustration of how to use hateful language
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 07:14 PM
Aug 2020

to utterly roast the attitudes that employ it. Well done, Misters Pryor and Brooks. Well done.

Mike 03

(16,616 posts)
7. What a fucking disgrace! This is from a related article:
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 09:22 AM
Aug 2020
In a call with IPR News, Eckerle said his comments were not meant to be heard by those outside the room.

But, he did not back down from his words. He said he reacted out of frustration with the racial unrest and violence in American cities, which he said was caused by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Asked if he regretted saying the N-word, he doubled down.

“No, I don’t regret calling it an n----r,” Eckerle said. “A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. That’s not a person whatsoever.”

He went on to say it was the same as saying he was German, or “Polack.”

“No, it is not racism,” Eckerle said.

He said he will not resign from the road commission.


https://www.interlochenpublicradio.org/post/leelanau-county-road-commissioner-unapologetic-about-using-n-word-does-so-repeatedly

NurseJackie

(42,862 posts)
19. Why did the Washington Post "sanitize" it by using dashes?
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 10:39 AM
Aug 2020

Are they trying to make his words less offensive?

flibbitygiblets

(7,220 posts)
31. Exactly, NurseJackie!
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:17 AM
Aug 2020

Omitting use of the actual word, particularly when used repeatedly as he did, does sanitize it.

This should be reported exactly as it was spoken so we can all see and feel how sickening and dangerously dehumanizing those words are.

skypilot

(8,848 posts)
35. The word is always sanitized in news reports.
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:26 AM
Aug 2020

Either with the use of dashes or it is referred to as " the N word".

llashram

(6,265 posts)
23. this potus
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 10:46 AM
Aug 2020

enables and encourages this person's racism to be openly spewed and acted out upon African-Americans and minorities not white and entitled, nationwide. So while all white people are not racist clowns, all n###### are just n######s? None working hard, raising families, trying to keep a roof over their heads? Just an***** is a n*****. At 70+ years old, I am so sick of these types. All trump has proven to me is, win or lose, these forces on the right will still be out there doing their damndest to keep their racism and large numbers front and centre to bring about the McCarthyite fascist dictatorship that they desire to put all those pesky black and brown people(s) and all non-white minorities back in their place. And African-Americans, specifically, underfoot of the entitled white race.

When President Obama was elected, all they could do is thwart every move he tried to make, to better our America. Screamed about FLOTUS Michelle Obama showing her shoulders at some function. Big scream, yet I can go on google at this very moment and see the current Flotus in very unladylike poses with not a stitch on.

And just yesterday I was conversing about the First Grifter Family with an associate. She brought up the fact that when Barron is mentioned everyone, even here, wants to come to his defence, saying leave him out of it. He's innocent. Didn't hear all that lamenting and handwringing when someone in the WH, during President Obama early first years as POTUS, leaked the itinerary of Sasha and Malia when they were going to get away on a trip outside the pressure cooker of D.C. and it's jaundiced politics.

Someone, during President Obama's tenure actually jumped the WH fence and made it into the main foyer of that building that slaves built. Not much was said about this, but what if....bomb, gun ...FLOTUS Michelle, the President, Malia, Sasha had been going somewhere coming down those stairs? America dodged a big, big situation there, yet it would have proved earlier rather than now just how racist and sick our culture is.

The continuing hypocrisy of the entitled of this land keeps astounding me. Yes, trump is the saviour of the racists and President Obama was just a black POTUS and not POTUS of all Americans according to the McConnells, Ryans and all those republicans that met in that room during the first inauguration ball to begin to devise a strategy to keep President Obama from representing all of us and making our country a greater place to live.

It is all now crystal clear that the Civil War 1861-65 that had traitors that fought to keep black people in chains and who, what confederates today call as heroes and part of their heritage would again put black people in chains after massacring as many as possible to try and whiten their land again back to the "good old days".


BadGimp

(4,009 posts)
26. THIS is what all this anti BLM reactions...
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 10:57 AM
Aug 2020
“Black Lives Matter has everything to do with taking the country away from us.”

_______________

It's about Racial Resentment. Not racism specifically or exclusively. Trump has weaponized Racial Resentment to great effect and disastrous outcome for everyone.

So many older white folks realize they are losing ground to "them", the others. They really do not like seeing other groups seizing and growing power.

my 2 cents

TlalocW

(15,359 posts)
40. Technically, he's right
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:35 AM
Aug 2020

And he can also get to deal with any fallout over doing so that comes from it. Freedom of speech doesn't necessarily mean freedom of consequences from your fellow citizens.

That sounds like a mob threat, but I mean voting him out, calling him out on his BS, etc.

TlalocW

Javaman

(62,442 posts)
43. the failure or morons and racist morons regarding freedom of speech.
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:44 AM
Aug 2020

you can say anything you want, but that doesn't mean their won't be repercussions.

digging deeper with stupidity, is never a winning tactic.

djacq

(1,633 posts)
44. Meanwhile, in Virginia;
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:48 AM
Aug 2020

Virginia mayor urged to resign after allegedly saying Joe Biden picked 'Aunt Jemima' as his VP;

[link:https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/us/virginia-mayor-biden-aunt-jemima-trnd/index.html|

They're (the racists) coming out.

 

Illumination

(2,458 posts)
45. Elected Tom Eckerle unmasked racist Michigan "official". The people of Michigan must be very
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 11:50 AM
Aug 2020

embarrassed! He's revealed his hand & who he really is. He's not playing with a full deck! Times have changed & so he must RESIGN!

Nitram

(22,671 posts)
46. Perhaps the best thing Trump did was to give his racist followers the courage to let us know who
Fri Aug 7, 2020, 01:19 PM
Aug 2020

they really are and what they really think. Conservatives had become quite adept at cloaking their racism in politically correct terms. Now they're letting it all hang out, and there's no way to get all that toothpaste back into the tube.

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