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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.
Eckerles 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 dont regret calling it an n----r, Eckerle told Interlochen Public Radio. A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. Thats not a person whatsoever.
<big snip>
secondwind
(16,903 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)groundloop
(11,488 posts)marble falls
(56,359 posts)Srkdqltr
(6,129 posts)no_hypocrisy
(45,774 posts)You can also get severely criticized, ostracized, and lose your credibility for doing your job.
marble falls
(56,359 posts)ChiTownDenny
(747 posts)You need to understand the difference between being a DEPLORABLE and being a CRIMINAL in a free-speech society.
padah513
(2,483 posts)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)
Post removed
groundloop
(11,488 posts)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)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)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.
Dude gave me a big FU! That's a first! LOOOOOL!
marble falls
(56,359 posts)lapfog_1
(29,166 posts)you can't get away with that language and stay in public office or work in a business.
Wednesdays
(17,249 posts)misanthrope
(7,405 posts)to utterly roast the attitudes that employ it. Well done, Misters Pryor and Brooks. Well done.
Mike 03
(16,616 posts)Mike 03
(16,616 posts)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 dont regret calling it an n----r, Eckerle said. A n----r is a n----r is a n----r. Thats 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
raccoon
(31,091 posts)PatrickforO
(14,516 posts)Not much empathy, eh?
dlk
(11,438 posts)Its an epidemic with Republicans.
zaj
(3,433 posts)DanieRains
(4,619 posts)I say it is KLAN.
dalton99a
(81,073 posts)onetexan
(12,994 posts)iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)mahannah
(893 posts)Hotler
(11,353 posts)roamer65
(36,739 posts)Trump loving scumbag.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)Are they trying to make his words less offensive?
flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)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)Either with the use of dashes or it is referred to as " the N word".
Harker
(13,880 posts)went triple.
llashram
(6,265 posts)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".
Faux pas
(14,583 posts)BadGimp
(4,009 posts)_______________
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
C Moon
(12,188 posts)marble falls
(56,359 posts)C Moon
(12,188 posts)RainCaster
(10,691 posts)iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)lillypaddle
(9,580 posts)TlalocW
(15,359 posts)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
chowder66
(9,011 posts)Javaman
(62,442 posts)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)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)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)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.