Missouri State Representative Warren Love is backpedaling after he posted, then deleted, a horribly offensive Facebook post in which he said that he hoped those vandalizing Confederate statue be lynched to death. This comes, of course, weeks after neo-Nazis descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia to defend Confederate monuments, killing one woman and injuring several others.
Several Missouri Democrats have called Love’s comments unacceptable, and some are calling for his resignation, including Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and State Rep Bruce Franks Jr.
State House Minority Leader Gail McCann Beatty pointed out how Love’s particular focus on lynching, a form of violence used specifically against black people in the Jim Crow South, made the comment doubly offensive. “In calling for the lynching of those who vandalized a Confederate statute in Springfield, state Rep. Warren Love invoked a form of political violence used throughout the South to keep African-Americans subjugated for generations following the fall of the Confederacy, and for that he must resign,” she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
When reached by the Post-Dispatch, Love confirmed the Facebook post but said that, despite literally describing the act of lynching, he was not actually calling for a lynching:
When reached by the Post-Dispatch, he confirmed the Facebook post, and said he was not calling for a lynching.
“Oh no,” he said. “Hell no!”
“That was an exaggerated statement that, you know, a lot of times is used in the western world when somebody does a crime or commits theft. … That’s just a western term and I’m very much a western man. … You know, I wear a coat. You know, I dress western. And, you know, I’m the cowboy of the Capitol.”
“Western man” and “Cowboy of the Capitol” sure are some interesting new euphemisms for “Racist as fuck.”
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