SC mayor faces calls to resign after saying Black Lives Matter is ‘terror organization’
A South Carolina mayor wrote Black Lives Matter was a “terror organization,” sparking backlash and calls for his resignation.
Brian Henry, mayor of Pawleys Island, shared the comment in a Facebook post about a Black man accused of killing two white people, the Georgetown NAACP chapter said Thursday.
“2 innocent people murdered,” Henry wrote, according to screenshots shared on social media. “Not 2 thugs or people wanted on multiple warrants. 2 white people defenselessly gunned down by a black man. Tell me, where is the outrage?”
The same post also said: “This BLM and Antifa movement must be (treated) like the terror organizations that they are.”
Members of the NAACP chapter on Thursday slammed the post and called on Henry to step down from his elected role in Pawleys Island, a town on the coast and roughly 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach.
“What he said really is his heart ...” Marvin Neal, Georgetown NAACP president, said in a video posted to Facebook on Thursday. “People like that shouldn’t be serving anyone.”
On Saturday, the Georgetown NAACP chapter held a news conference in which speakers expressed sorrow for the people killed in the shootings while also calling for people to condemn Henry’s comments to help bring the community together.
“I don’t think we can address hate enough,” Neal said Saturday. “When comments are made and we don’t address it, we condone it.”
Henry apologized and said the post on his personal Facebook page didn’t reflect the perspective of Pawleys Island, according to WPDE. The Sun News’ attempt to reach Henry on Saturday was not immediately answered.
“I regret that my post was misinterpreted, and some perceived it as rationally insensitive,” Henry wrote in a previous statement to news outlets. “My wife and I care deeply about the black community in Pawleys Island and Georgetown County.”
The post referred to a shooting on Monday afternoon in nearby Georgetown. Officials say Ty Sheem Ha Sheem Walters III, 23, was driving when he hit a car that was slowing to make a turn.
During an ensuing altercation, he is accused of shooting and killing the other driver, “Charles Nicholas ‘Nick’ Wall, 45, and his stepdaughter, Laura Ashlee Anderson, 21,” The Sun News reported. Walters was charged with murder, authorities say.
“My wife and I know the family of the victims,” Henry said in his statement to WCSC and other outlets. “I was deeply saddened and angered by the gruesome nature of the killing and felt grieved for the family and this community. I typically refrain from social media because of my position as an elected official. But, in this case, I felt compelled to pour out my heart to this family and release some of the emotion I felt, so I drafted a post on Facebook.”
Henry didn’t respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Thursday morning.
The comments come as people have called for an end to police brutality and racism after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck. That officer and three others were fired and face charges.
The Sun News’ David Wetzel contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 2:26 PM with the headline "SC mayor faces calls to resign after saying Black Lives Matter is ‘terror organization’."
